Michel Maharbiz - Cyborg Insects and Other Things: Building Interfaces Between the Synthetic and Multicellular

Via UCTV and the University of California at Berkeley, this video talk by Michel Maharbiz (faculty webpage) takes a look at the future of cyborg technology, especially in insects. His work is in developing electronic interfaces to cells, to organisms, and to brains.

Professor Maharbiz (personal webpage) is:

Associate professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley. His current research centers on building micro/nano interfaces to cells and organisms and exploring bio-derived fabrication methods. His research group is also known for developing the world’s first remotely radio-controlled cyborg beetles; this was named one of the top 10 emerging technologies of 2009 by MIT’s Technology Review (TR10) and was among Time magazine’s Top 50 Inventions of 2009. His long-term goal is understanding developmental mechanisms as a way to engineer and fabricate machines. He received his Ph.D. in 2003 from UC Berkeley for his work on microbioreactor systems, which led to the foundation of Microreactor Technologies Inc., which was recently acquired by Pall Corporation.

This technology is both very cool and kind of creepy. I really hate flying beetle-type insects - and now we can turn them into drones I'm guessing.

Cyborg Insects and Other Things: Building Interfaces Between the Synthetic and Multicellular

Published on Mar 10, 2014


Prof. Michel Maharbiz presents an overview of ongoing exploration of the remote control of insects in free flight via implantable radio-equipped miniature neural stimulating systems; recent results with pupally-implanted neural interfaces and extreme miniaturization directions.