The student news site of Coginchaug Regional High School

CRHS News

The student news site of Coginchaug Regional High School

CRHS News

The student news site of Coginchaug Regional High School

CRHS News

Technology is Bugging Out

Technology+is+Bugging+Out

Although bugs currently cannot be engineered to have the capabilities of real ones, the engineers from Draper have revamped failed experiments with a new, more technologically advanced approach. There are many practical applications for this new product. Draper thinks the Dragonfly can assist the bee population to recover its recently lost ground. On Draper’s website, they said their plan is that the “tiny guidance system could help stem the loss of pollinators by monitoring their flight patterns, migration and overall health.” The possibilities are endless with this agile robo-dragonfly.

The difference between this DragonflEye design and failed previous experiments is the technological advances. Now engineers at the R&D company Draper are using “miniaturized navigation, synthetic biology, and neurotechnology” to control dragonflies. The dragonfly’s nervous system has been genetically modified to have a directional response to light impulses. Past experiments used electrical impulses which engages all neurons in the specified area, decreasing the accuracy of the muscle control because not just the neurons associated with muscle movement are activated. I

n an interview with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Jesse J. Wheeler, a senior biomedical engineer at Draper and the principal investigator on the DragonflEye program said, “The challenge with spoofing sensory inputs is that organisms often adapt and learn to ignore the sensory information that isn’t consistent with other senses.”

Dragonflies are more agile than other insects, like beetles, which makes this experiment have an advantage; however, dragonflies cannot fly with as much weight as larger insects. Draper was able to use the dragonflies because of their streamlined, innovated design. The small technology attached to the dragonfly has advanced engineering to make it as small and lightweight as possible. It also uses solar power to eliminate the necessity of batteries.

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