S’pore team turning cockroaches into life-saving cyborg bugs at disaster sites

The cockroaches can distinguish between human and non-human subjects with 87% accuracy. — ONG WEE JIN/The Straits Times/ANN

SINGAPORE: Cockroaches are known to infiltrate homes through the tiniest of gaps, and this innate ability now has engineers in Singapore working to turn the pesky insect into an ally of rescuers at disaster sites.

One variety of the insect, in particular, has the team at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) excited – the Madagascar hissing cockroach.