What if insects could travel the world and transmit live images of the most beautiful places in Mother Nature's womb? Here you are! The first beetles were equipped with backpacks with cameras and will go out into the world.
Walkers working for Google Street View each day walk thousands of kilometers together with special backpacks with cameras that record the surrounding world so that we can see it in its farthest corners without leaving home.
Soon they will be joined by insects that will illustrate even more inaccessible areas for us. Scientists from the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering Paul G. Allen at the University of Washington, funded by a scholarship from Microsoft and the National Science Foundation, have built a miniature version of a GoPro webcam for insects.
The backpack with a webcam, integrated circuit and battery weighs only 250 micrograms and does not limit the beetles' mobility in any way. They can carry even two such backpacks at the same time and travel the world with them even on steep hills or climbing a tree.
The quality of the webcam image is not impressive, because we are talking about capturing black and white photos with a speed of up to 5 frames per second. Image transmission can be done wirelessly via Bluetooth to a smartphone from a distance of up to 120 meters. The webcam can work on batteries for 6 hours.
Maybe this is not the peak of technological possibilities, but scientists emphasize that it is still a great achievement. After all, we are talking about a really miniature device. The most important thing is that thanks to it, biologists will be able to observe the world of insects from a perspective that has not been available to them so far.
Engineers announce that they intend to improve their invention to make it as practical as possible. Live recording of the world around you or even spying on people by remotely controlled insects is no longer fiction, but reality.
Can you imagine that in the near future, the image quality from micro-cameras will increase so much that it will equal photos from smartphones? Add to that 5G connectivity, more efficient batteries or even solar panels, and we will be able to turn insects into travelers who will show us our beautiful planet in its wildest face.