The chirp of the cicada, a familiar sound of summer, has been given a modern twist thanks to researchers at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. By implanting electrodes into cicadas, the researchers were able to control the insects’ timbals and essentially turn them into cyborg loudspeakers capable of playing music ranging from classical tunes to popular movie themes.
Lead researcher Naoto Nishida and his team drew inspiration from previous studies involving remote-controlling cockroaches using electrodes. The idea to manipulate the cicadas’ chirps came to them while listening to the insects in their woodland campus.
Cicadas produce noise by flexing their timbal organs, creating a clicking sound that can reach hundreds of flexes per second. By implanting electrodes and using computer signals passed through an amplifier, the researchers were able to control the pitch of the noises produced by the cicadas.
Through their experiments, the team successfully taught the cicadas to play music, showcasing their ability to reproduce tones over a wide range of frequencies. From a low A at 27.5 hertz to a high C at 261.6 hertz, the cyborg insects demonstrated their musical prowess.
Nishida reassured that the cicadas involved in the experiments were unharmed, with some even being released back into the wild. He noted that some insects cooperated willingly while others were more hesitant.
Aside from the novelty of musical cicadas, the researchers believe that cyborg insects could have practical applications in emergency situations like earthquakes. These biohybrid robots could offer energy-efficient, durable, and agile solutions compared to traditional electronic robots.
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