iRoach a Useful Tool to Manipulate Behavior

Cockroaches are a very interesting model system for many aspects of animal behavior. In a recent study conducted at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, cockroaches swarming behavior can be controlled by tiny robots designed to smell and behave like roaches. When a group of roaches were placed with these tiny robots they usually stay around it, even when they were in undesirable conditions (such as brightly-lit areas).

The researchers programmed these tiny roach-sized robots to behave like cockroaches by having them move back and forth in several different "shaded" regions in a small area with a group of cockroaches. The cockroach robots would then stop in between two shaded regions and the researchers observed the cockroach behavior. The cockroaches followed the robot, and stayed in the lit area even though it is against their behavioral rules to stay in a lit area when there are other darker areas in the environment.

This study is interesting to behaviorists because it shows that even the most difficult to tame animals can be controlled using robotic mechanisms.

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Posted by Christine Tauras (8)