Not only could big brother be tracking your honeybees they could even 
be watching you using your own bees! Geez the old adage of knowing 
where your queens or packages are coming from takes on new 
meaning in the future!!!

http://www.upi.com/inc/view.php?StoryID=20060312-073227-3194r

U.S. military plans to make insect cyborgs

By SHAUN WATERMAN
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor

WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- Facing problems in its efforts to train 
insects or build robots that can mimic their flying abilities, the U.S. 
military now wants to develop "insect cyborgs" that can go where its 
soldiers cannot. 

The Pentagon is seeking applications from researchers to help them 
develop technology that can be implanted into living insects to control 
their movement and transmit video or other sensory data back to their 
handlers. 

In an announcement posted on government Web sites last week, the 
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, says it is 
seeking "innovative proposals to develop technology to create insect 
cyborgs," by implanting tiny devices into insect bodies while the 
animals are in their pupal stage. 

As an insect metamorphoses from a larva to an adult, the solicitation 
notice says, its "body goes through a renewal process that can heal 
wounds and reposition internal organs around foreign objects, 
including tiny (mechanical) structures that might be present." 

The goal is to create technology that can achieve "the delivery of an 
insect within five meters of a specific target located at hundred meters 
away, using electronic remote control, and/or global positioning 
system." Once at the target, "the insect must remain stationary either 
indefinitely or until otherwise instructed ... (and) must also be able to 
transmit data from (Department of Defense) relevant sensors ... 
includ(ing) gas sensors, microphones, video, etc." 

The move follows challenges the agency says it has encountered in 
its efforts to train insects to detect explosives or other chemical 
compounds, and to mimic their flight and movement patterns using 
small robots. 

Several years ago, DARPA launched a $3 million project to train 
honeybees to find landmines. According to a report by the American 
Forces Press Service, scientists used sugar-soaked sponges treated 
with explosives to get the bees to identify the smell as a possible food 
source. 

But last week's solicitation says the project didn't work out. 

"These activities have highlighted key challenges involving behavioral 
and chemical control of insects... Instinctive behaviors for feeding and 
mating -- and also for responding to temperature changes -- 
prevented them from performing reliably," it says. 

As far as the development of purely robotic or mechanical unmanned 
aerial vehicles -- so-called micro-UAVs -- the solicitation says that 
developing energy sources both powerful and light enough 
"present(s) a key technical challenge." 

Both sets of challenges "might be effectively overcome" by the 
development of insect cyborgs, says the solicitation. 

The devices DARPA wants to implant are micro-electro-mechanical 
systems, or MEMS. MEMS technology uses tiny silicon wafers like 
those used as the basis for computer microchips. But instead of 
merely laying circuits on them, MEMS technology can actually cut and 
shape the silicon, turning the chip into a microscopic mechanical 
device. 

The solicitation envisages the implanted device as a "platform" onto 
which "various microsystem payloads can be mounted ... with the goal 
of controlling insect locomotion, sens(ing) local environment, and 
scaveng(ing) power." 

"Possible methods of locomotion control may be sensory 
manipulation, direct muscle interface, or neural interface to the insect," 
says the document, known as a Broad Agency Announcement. It goes 
on to say that sensory manipulation, for instance by projecting 
ultrasonic vibrations or ejecting pheromones, is likely to be 
species-specific, whereas technology to directly control insect 
muscles or brains "may be more general." 

DARPA believes that the heat and mechanical power generated by the 
insects themselves as they move around "may be harnessed to 
power the microsystem payload" eliminating the need for batteries or 
other power systems. 

The objective is to transform the insects into "predictable devices that 
can be used for various micro-UAV missions requiring unobtrusive 
entry into areas inaccessible or hostile to humans." 

Among potential missions, says the solicitation, would be the 
collection of "explosive signatures from within buildings, caves, or 
other inaccessible locations." 

Although flying insects like dragonflies and moths are "of great 
interest," the document says, "Hopping and swimming insects could 
also meet final demonstration goals." 

Implanting the devices during pupation is key, says the document, 
because "the insects are immobile and can be manipulated without 
interference from instinctive motion." 

As part of their honeybee training project, DARPA glued tiny radio 
transmitters to the bees, to help track their movement. 

The solicitation says that the healing processes which insects go 
through as they change from larvae into adults "are expected to yield 
more reliable bio-electromechanical interface... as compared to 
adhesively bonded systems to adult insects." 

Inserting the devices in pupae could also "enable assembly-line like 
fabrication of hybrid insect-MEMS interfaces, providing a considerable 
cost advantage," says the solicitation. 

DARPA will hold a day-long conference for contractors interested in 
submitting proposals on March 24.


Brian says

Just think of the practical uses in the beeyard, never have to crack a 
box to see whats happening in a hive or even leave your office chair!

-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---