NTU Builds a Diving Suit for Cyborg Cockroaches — They Worked Underwater for 3 Hours

Researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have 3D-printed a wearable diving suit for cyborg cockroaches, enabling them to breathe and move underwater for up to three hours — turning the remote-controlled insects into amphibious search-and-rescue robots.

The next time someone gets trapped in a flooded cave, the rescuer crawling through the rubble might not be human. It might be a mind-controlled cockroach wearing a tiny scuba tank.

Researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have 3D-printed a flexible diving suit that turns terrestrial cyborg cockroaches into amphibious rescue robots. The suit — worn like a backpack — houses a chemical oxygen generator that pumps breathable air through tubes connected to the insect's spiracles, the openings it uses to breathe. In tests, the outfitted roaches survived and moved underwater for up to three hours.

The work, published this week in Nature Communications, solves a fundamental limitation that has kept cyborg insects landlocked. For over a decade, researchers have been attaching electrodes to cockroaches' brains and sensory organs, creating remote-controlled bugs that can be steered through rubble and narrow gaps for search-and-rescue operations and pipeline inspections. But until now, these biohybrid robots stopped working the moment they hit water.

"By fitting a cockroach, which is a terrestrial species, into this diving suit, we allowed it to survive and operate in oxygen-deprived environments," the research team led by Professor Hirotaka Sato wrote, "transforming it into an amphibious cyborg robot capable of operation across land and water."

The cyborg approach has distinct advantages over traditional robots. Because the insect handles its own locomotion, it requires far less computing power and carries no heavy battery or motors — crucial in disaster scenarios where every gram matters. The operator only nudges the roach's direction when it strays off course; the insect's natural autonomy handles obstacle navigation on its own.

The Singapore team says the same principle could eventually apply to other oxygen-deprived environments — including space.

Sources: Nature Communications | Popular Science | SMBtech