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iPhone-Controlled Cyborg Cockroaches Are Stirring Up An Ethics Debate

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Kickstarter/GageMarzullo

You no longer have to be a graduate student or doctor to study neuroscience.

According to an article in Science Now, a new do-it-yourself project, called the RoboRoach, allows kids as young as 10 to create their own cyborg cockroach and control its movement. The $99 kits come with live cockroaches, a surgical kit, and tiny electronic hardware pieces.

The goal behind these RoboRoach kits is to get kids interested in neuroscience research and encourage them to pursue a career in the field. Cockroaches and humans have neurons that function in a similar way, so when you observe the cockroach responding to the signal from your phone, you are also seeing how human neurons respond to a signal. But some scientists and bioethicists are concerned this new product is unethical and may be encouraging cruel treatment of animals.

The RoboRoach made its debut at the TEDx conference in Detroit on Oct. 2. Greg Gage and Tim Marzullo, the co-founders of Backyard Brains, a small startup company of scientists and engineers, created the tiny backpack the cockroach wears and designed the kit that allows the user to attach all the pieces themselves. They funded the project with a Kickstarter, butand the cyborg cockroach will be commercially available starting in November.

How the cyborg cockroaches are created

cockroach.gif

Kickstarter/Gage

Swiping the screen of a smartphone controls the RoboRoach's movement.

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iPhone-Controlled Cyborg Cockroaches Are Stirring Up An Ethics Debate

Cyborg cockroaches: they're alive!

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By: News Desk

Photo by Backyard Brains

Have you ever wanted to control a cockroach with a smartphone? Well Dr. Frankenstein, fret not, because in a month, your really specific and kind of creepy wish could be granted. A company called Backyard Brains is releasing the first commercially available cockroach cyborg in the form of some microelectronics that the user would attach to the back of a cockroach.

The whole thing costs about 99 dollars, and comes with the electronics, a cockroach and surgical equipment to fuse the two together. Although the Roboroach sounds like it should be destroying a major metropolis in a B-movie, the creators hope to make it a teaching tool, planning for children as young as 10 to use it. According to Science Magazine, the process of converting cockroach to machine-cockroach is involved.

"Students are instructed to douse the insect in ice water to "anesthetize" it, sand a patch of shell on its head so that the superglue and electrodes will stick, and then insert a groundwire into the insect's thorax. Next, they must carefully trim the insect's antennae, and insert silver electrodes into them. Ultimately, these wires receive electrical impulses from a circuit affixed to the insect's back."

Not surprisingly, this has ignited some controversy among bioethicists and animal rights activists. A PETA representative was incensed. "To be disrespectful of life forms because they are small and we do not fully understand them or appreciate their place in the larger scheme of things is wrong. It is retrogressive and morally dubious."

Jonathan Balcombe of the Humane Society University in Washington, D.C., says even if the project is a teaching tool, it's still disconcerting. "If it was discovered that a teacher was having students use magnifying glasses to burn ants and then look at their tissue, how would people react?"

But Greg Gage, the co-founder of Backyard Brains wants to inspire more kids to pursue neuroscience. Talking to Vice Magazine, Gage was hopeful. "Neurological diseases suck. Getting people excited about the brain is the idea [behind RoboRoach]."

Getting people excited about the brain isn't the only possible use for cyborg cockroaches. Dr. Alper Bozkurt of NC State University wants to use these machine insects to help rescue earthquake survivors. He proposes that the cockroaches could be controlled by a rescue worker while the cockroaches carry a locator beacon, tiny microphone, or camera.

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Cyborg cockroaches: they're alive!

Morning Report: Tito Ortiz says Ronda Rousey will always be No. 2 to Cris Cyborg

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Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz remains adamant his client, Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, will remain the No. 1 female fighter until UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey can prove otherwise.

"They pushed this fight of her and Ronda at 135 so much. The last time I saw Ronda call out Cris Cyborg, Ronda was actually at 145. So she cut down to 135 to stay avoid Cris," Ortiz told Fighters Only.

"Now the ball is in their court - if they want the fight to happen, they will let the fight happen. If not I guess Ronda is the number two pound-for-pound woman always and Cris will be number one."

"Nobody is going to beat {Cyborg} ever. She is going to do an Anderson Silva and go undefeated for a long, long time."

Ortiz, partnered with Cyborg's other management at Primetime 360, pressured the UFC to grant her release in February after failing to accommodate her requests to meet Rousey at a catchweight. Cyborg's team claimed cutting below 140lbs would endanger her, while Dana White and Zuffa affirmed she had no place in the UFC's ranks if not at bantamweight. Even with UFC offering to hire nutritionist Mike Dolce on her behalf, Cyborg and Co. decided to move on.

Now, Ortiz is left to ponder the what-ifs and snipe at Rousey from afar. Himself a two-time Ultimate Fighter coach, Ortiz sees Rousey cracking under the pressure of the cameras.

"I think her head is getting to her. I watched a couple episodes and she seems like a little brat, likes she's too good for everybody else. That's the attitude you don't want, especially as a coach. People see me on The Ultimate Fighter season three, season eleven, I never thought I was better than anybody else," he said.

"Is the popularity getting to Ronda's head a little too much? She hasn't had any huge fights, she hasn't fought any huge names yet. I guess its one of those things that, in time, she needs to be tested. She's being protected by the UFC and if she keeps being protected she will always be known as second-best.

"I haven't seen any great stand-up skills. I have seen her closing the gap and taking a girl down and arm-barring her. I don't think she even knows any moves other than an armbar."

Rousey defends her bantamweight title in a rematch to former Strikeforce champion Miesha Tate at UFC 168 on Dec. 28.

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Morning Report: Tito Ortiz says Ronda Rousey will always be No. 2 to Cris Cyborg

Cyborg Cockroach Company Sparks Ethics Debate

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At the TEDx conference in Detroit last week, RoboRoach #12 scuttled across the exhibition floor, pursued not by an exterminator but by a gaggle of fascinated onlookers. Wearing a tiny backpack of microelectronics on its shell, the cockroacha member of the Blaptica dubia specieszigzagged along the corridor in a twitchy fashion, its direction controlled by the brush of a finger against an iPhone touch screen (as seen in video above).

RoboRoach #12 and its brethren are billed as a do-it-yourself neuroscience experiment that allows students to create their own cyborg insects. The roach was the main feature of the TEDx talk by Greg Gage and Tim Marzullo, co-founders of an educational company called Backyard Brains. After a summer Kickstarter campaign raised enough money to let them hone their insect creation, the pair used the Detroit presentation to show it off and announce that starting in November, the company will, for $99, begin shipping live cockroaches across the nation, accompanied by a microelectronic hardware and surgical kits geared toward students as young as 10 years old.

That news, however, hasnt been greeted warmly by everyone. Gage and Marzullo, both trained as neuroscientists and engineers, say that the purpose of the project is to spur a neuro-revolution by inspiring more kids to join the fields when they grow up, but some critics say the project is sending the wrong message. They encourage amateurs to operate invasively on living organisms and encourage thinking of complex living organisms as mere machines or tools, says Michael Allen Fox, a professor of philosophy at Queens University in Kingston, Canada.

Its kind of weird to control via your smartphone a living organism, says William Newman, a presenter at TEDx and managing principal at the Newport Consulting Group, who got to play with a RoboRoach at the conference. At the same time, he says, he is pleased that the project will teach students about the neuroscience behind brain stimulation treatments that are being used to treat two of his friends with Parkinsons disease.

The roaches movements to the right or left are controlled by electrodes that feed into their antennae and receive signals by remote controlvia the Bluetooth signals emitted by smartphones. To attach the device to the insect, students are instructed to douse the insect in ice water to anesthetize it, sand a patch of shell on its head so that the superglue and electrodes will stick, and then insert a groundwire into the insects thorax. Next, they must carefully trim the insects antennae, and insert silver electrodes into them. Ultimately, these wires receive electrical impulses from a circuit affixed to the insects back.

Gage says the roaches feel little pain from the stimulation, to which they quickly adapt. But the notion that the insects arent seriously harmed by having body parts cut off is disingenuous, says animal behavior scientist Jonathan Balcombe of the Humane Society University in Washington, D.C. If it was discovered that a teacher was having students use magnifying glasses to burn ants and then look at their tissue, how would people react?

Gage says that in his experience, working carefully and closely with insects and other animals in experiments can sensitize students to the fact that roaches are actually similar to us and have the same neurons that we have. He also notes that the company doesnt kill their own roaches after the experiments, but sends them to a retirement tank that the team calls Shady Acres. Although they may be missing legs or antennae, the insects tend to get on with their lives after the experiments, he says. They do what they like to do: make babies, eat, and poop.

I try not to downplay the fact that in science we use animal models and a lot of times they are killed, Gage says. As scientists, we do this all the time, but it happens behind closed doors. By following the surgical instructions, he says, all students learn that they have to care for the roachestreating wounds by putting a little Vaseline on them, and minimizing suffering whenever possible. Still, Gage acknowledges, we get a lot of e-mails telling us were teaching kids to be psychopaths.

The RoboRoach gives you a way of playing with living things, like a short-lived version of the forbidden Imperius Curse in the Harry Potter novels, says bioethicist Gregory Kaebnick of the Hastings Center in Garrison, New York. He finds the product unpleasant, but adds that he wont be calling for a boycott, either. Ill just be happy that I found a cleverly marketed consumer item that I am very happy not to own.

This story provided by ScienceNOW, the daily online news service of the journal Science.

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Cyborg Cockroach Company Sparks Ethics Debate

Tito Ortiz: UFC Protecting 'Little Brat' Ronda Rousey from Fighting Cyborg

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Bellator light heavyweight Tito Ortiz remains one of the most outspoken competitors in the fight game, whether he's talking about his career or one of his clients.

The self-proclaimed "People's Champion" tore into UFC women's bantamweight titleholder Ronda Rousey in an interview with Fighters Only, saying the UFC was protecting her from a showdown with his star client, Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino.

They (the UFC) pushed this fight of her and Ronda at 135 so much. The last time I saw Ronda call out Cris Cyborg, Ronda was actually at 145. So she cut down to 135 to stay avoid Cris ...I think her head is getting to her. I watched a couple episodes (of The Ultimate Fighter)and she seems like a little brat, likes shes too good for everybody else. Thats the attitude you dont want, especially as a coach. People see me on The Ultimate Fighter season three, season eleven, I never thought I was better than anybody else ...Shes being protected by the UFC and if she keeps being protected she will always be known as second-best.I havent seen any great stand-up skills. I have seen her closing the gap and taking a girl down and arm-barring her. I dont think she even knows any moves other than an armbar.

Ortiz, who returns from a 16-month layoff from the cage to fight follow ex-UFC champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at Bellator 106 on November 2, asked to have Justino released from her UFC contract in February, per MMA Weekly.

The two sides parted ways after an agreement could not be reached for a Rousey-Cyborg superfight.

Justino has fought her entire career at featherweight, while Rousey cut down to bantamweight for the first time in March 2012, where she won the Strikeforce strap from rival Miesha Tate.

Rousey is currently 7-0 as a professional mixed martial artist, finishing each opponent with a predictable, yet seemingly unstoppable, armbar.

She next defends her title against Tate again at UFC 168, with the women's title bout serving as the co-main event of the December 28 pay-per-view.

Meanwhile, the equally dominant Cyborg hasn't lost since her pro debut in May 2005, though her record was tarnished when she tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol in December 2011, per MMA Junkie.

After serving her nine-month suspension, the hard-hitting Brazilian has rallied back with three straight technical knockouts, capturing the Invicta Fighting Championships featherweight title in July and also winning her first Muay Thai fight in nearly seven years late last last month.

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Tito Ortiz: UFC Protecting 'Little Brat' Ronda Rousey from Fighting Cyborg


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