Acoustic sensors for biobotic search and rescue

Abstract

Advances in neural engineering have enabled direct control of insect locomotion. Insect biobots, with a natural ability to crawl through small spaces, offer unique advantages over traditional synthetic robots. A cyberphysical network of such biobots could prove useful for search and rescue applications in uncertain disaster environments. Our previous work has demonstrated control of Madagascar hissing cockroaches using a Kinect-based computer vision platform. We now demonstrate low-power insect-mounted acoustic sensors for future use in both environmental mapping and localization of trapped survivors. Our experimentation has shown the capability of an insect mounted array of microphones to localize a sound source.