Science & Technology

By T.K. Randall
July 2, 2026

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney)

Now cockroaches can spend hours underwater - but is augmenting insects really a good idea and where do you draw the line ?

In the 1980s classic Robocop, a Detroit cop who was gunned down by crooks ends up being heavily augmented to turn him into the world's first cyborg police officer.

While we certainly don't have the technology to do something like this (yet), scientists have been experimenting with creating cybernetic insects with some surprising levels of success.

Cyborg cockroaches have actually been a thing for a while - with researchers attaching electrodes to the brain and sensory organs, enabling them to direct the insects like a remote-controlled car.

Now, though, scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have taken things one step further by creating a cybernetic diving suit that can enable a cockroach to breath underwater.

A 3D-printed 'backpack' attached to the insect contains a chemical oxygen generator and pumps the breathable air through special tubes.

Experiments showed that the system provided enough of an oxygen supply for the insect to survive and swim around underwater for up to three hours.

While the whole idea of this sounds a bit pointless, there is actually a legitimate use case - diving cockroaches could be used to help search pockets of water (like submerged caves) for people trapped and in need of rescue.

Whether we'll ever see them deployed in such a scenario, however, remains to be seen.

Source: Popular Science

Tags: Cockroach, Cyborg