Wireless Multisensors Platform for Distributed Insect Biobot Sensing Network

Abstract

Recently, the combination of electronic devices with living insects has been explored for direct manipulation of insects’ locomotion. However, the potential of such controllable insect biobots for environmental sensing, especially in outdoor applications, has not been fully studied. Vision and auditory are two primary means to remotely perceive the world. By incorporating the image and sound sensors into the beetle-carried behavior control system, we designed a fully wireless, self-powered sensing backpack with a lightweight of 523 mg. This backpack not only realizes the manipulation of beetle biobots, but also allows for real-time visual and acoustic feedback tracking. According to the test results, the backpack is able to transmit images at 1–5 frames/s and ambient sound, within a range of 160 m. The dedicated waterproof design enables the operation in the moist environment without compromising the sensing capability. In addition, for extended mission durations, solar power-harvesting circuitry was added to recharge the onboard battery. By mounting this backpack on the beetle biobots, we demonstrated our preliminary efforts toward remote locomotive control of biobots indoors and outdoors. And a sensing network was also constructed with distributed multiple beetle biobot nodes for real-time environmental sensing in the field. The successful implementation of our novel system design could provide some insights into distributed insect cyborg biobots’ future application and development outdoors.