Cyborg cockroaches carry injections to people rescuers cannot reach

Researchers at the University of Queensland and the University of New South Wales have fitted live cockroaches with a spring-loaded syringe and steered them through an obstacle course to deliver an injection. The University of Queensland described the work on 27 August 2026; the paper is in Advanced Science.

The insect is Macropanesthia rhinoceros, the Australian giant burrowing cockroach. Electrodes implanted in its antennae and cerci are activated wirelessly from a handheld gaming controller, which turns the animal left, right, forward, or stops it. On its back sits either a camera or an injector — a syringe launched by a spring and pressurised by a chemical reaction that generates carbon dioxide.

Across 25 trials on a 2.5-metre course with three checkpoints, the complete navigation-and-injection task succeeded 72 per cent of the time. With the insect already positioned within 15 centimetres of the target, the injection alone succeeded in 95 per cent.

The capability being moved here is a paramedic’s reach. Someone trapped under rubble or far inside a cave can be hours from a rescuer and minutes from needing a drug. None of this has been used in a real rescue: it is a proof of concept on a laboratory floor, and lead researcher Thang Vo-Doan puts deployment five to ten years away.