Engineering the Future of Search and Rescue with ‘Roach-Bots’

Belinda Truong, Electrical Engineering '25, shows off a "roach-bot" during the School of Engineering student showcase (Photos by Lori Strauss)

From the depths of the sea to the heart of a disaster zone, Wentworth student Belinda Truong is engineering robots for the world's toughest environments.

After playing a role in the university's award-winning underwater robotics team (WUROV) at the MATE ROV World Championship,the Electrical and Computer Engineering student is now pioneering a terrestrial solution for first responders: tiny cyborg insects, or "bio-bots," designed to find survivors trapped under rubble.

Truong's research focuses on using Madagascar hissing cockroaches, remotely guided to map disaster areas and find survivors. Her project introduces key innovations to make these tiny helpers more resilient, effective, and ethically sound for real-world rescue missions.

Traditional bio-bots are controlled by stimulating implanted electrodes in their antennae, which triggers a natural obstacle-avoidance reflex-a pulse to the left antenna makes them turn right, and vice versa. However, these systems face two major hurdles: limited battery life and the potential for harming the insect during electrode implantation.

Truong's project, "Locomotory Control of Roach-Bots with an Alternative Energy Source and Stimulation," addresses both issues head-on with two key breakthroughs:

• Self-Sufficient Power: Instead of relying on tiny batteries that quickly run out, or on solar power that won't work under rubble, Truong's design uses piezoelectric sensors. These flexible ribbons, fitted to the cockroach's abdomen, convert the natural vibrations from the insect's movement into usable electrical energy, constantly recharging the system.
• Contactless Control: To avoid invasive procedures, her system uses magnetic stimulation. Instead of implanting electrodes, fine copper wire coils are wrapped around each antenna. A microcontroller on the insect's "backpack" generates a precise magnetic field, steering the cockroach without the need for direct physical implantation.

Professor Tahmid Latif served as Truong's Wentworth advisor, and her future plans include further refining the system's efficiency and developing a more advanced electronic backpack to interface with the new power and control mechanisms.

"We hope this research will impact the future of biological robots," Truong said, "and assist first responders in locating trapped survivors and saving their lives."