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A Madagascar hissing cockroach is deployed with a 'backpack' of electronics and a solar cell that enable remote control of its movements at the Thin-Film Device Laboratory at the Japanese research institution Riken in Wako, Saitama prefecture.
The researchers explained that wires from the backpack are attached to the insect's cerci, the paired appendages at the rear of the abdomen, to apply electrical stimulation.
Stimulation given to the right cerci makes the cockroach go right while stimulation to the left cerci makes it go left.
Nothing to get excited yet, because as Reuters pointed out, when instructed to go left, the insect scrambled in a general direction, while when told to go right, it ended up moving in circles :)
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com