Dragonflies can be converted into drones using these devices

Science Adina Camarasu
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Researchers plan to create hybrid drones, made of dragonflies and robots.

The scenario may sound a little bit Sci-fi, but scientists plan to control the dragonflies with the help of small devices which will be implanted in their brains.

Scientists have developed a system that can be worn like a backpack by alive dragonflies.

That will allow engineers to manipulate the movements they make, according to a recent report.

It’s not the first time researchers have such an idea of leading insects using drones as they were toy cars.

We remember when the scientists combined technology and nature to create easily controlled bodies which were tested on crickets, grasshoppers and even birds.

In these cases, the systems intelligently make use of the external organs of insects and their behavior. For example, crickets can be manipulated by stimulating their antennas, making them believe they have hit a hurdle in their way and cause them to change their course.

Similarly, scientists make use of grasshoppers’ intolerance to heat and make them feel warm to guide them in the opposite direction.

The current plan of scientists is to stimulate neural system of dragonflies to cause them to move in the direction suggested by them.

But to get a result like this, researchers need to alter the neurons of dragonflies by adding some genes that are normally found in their eyes.

Thus, they make them light sensitive and react once they see the glare, distracting them easily to another location.

In this way, the insects become a new type of micro-air vehicle that is smaller in size, easier and that moves more rapidly than any object created by humans.

Controlling insects would have numerous uses, even if this is a problem morally questionable. Researchers claim that dragonflies could be used to help the pollination process, especially in those moments when the health of the insects is poor.