So, we already knew that robots are cockroaches’ best friends (cf. The Roachbot and the wireless cockroach.)

Now, a European project called Leurre is working on a possible solution to solve the cockroach problem: a robotic Judas roach able to seek, locate and betray its insect counterparts. The Belgian, French and Swiss team says that the invention is “a breakthrough in mankind’s struggle to control the animal kingdom”.

A three year study of cockroach behaviour resulted in a computer programme allowing a cyberroach to mimic its victims’ social habits.

Next on the agenda was to construct the InsBot and arm it with lasers, infra-red sensors and roach scent to allow it to move in complete darkness and properly interact with the cockroach community. Tests are under way to show that while cockroaches naturally gravitate to a dark shelter, if the intruder leads them to a lit shelter they follow – presumably to their destruction. One of the researchers notes: “It is plausible and realistic to imagine that, in five or ten years’ time, people with a cockroach infestation will be buying robots to get rid of them.”

The Insbot is only a proof-of-concept device, the ultimate goal is to develop robots capable of integrating and communicating with animals: stopping sheeps jumping off cliffs, preventing outbreaks of panic among guinea fowl and to encouraging chickens to take exercise.

Via Nanoblog < The Register < The Times.