You may know of Steve Potter at the Laboratory for NeuroEngineering at Emory and Georgia Tech who is most notably famous for his Hybrots (hybrid robots). Hybrid robots refer to artificial animals (part animal part robot - also including animal like robots and robots that behave like animals) that are controlled neurally. Where he grows neural circuits in petri dishes and hooks them up to the sensors and actuators of robots.

Well we’ve been hearing chatter about hybrots being taken to the next level. Most notably, how Charles Higgins from the University of Arizona has been tapping into the spinal cord of dragonflies and using them as extremely powerful sensors for his robots. The primary study being on “mixing biology and electronics to create robotic vision.”

This appears to be a very interesting field to study: integrating biological parts with electronic ones. The possibilities for the use of organic parts in machinery are endless: super-smelling warning bots that can sense any dangerous chemical, gas or oil leaks in critical situations, or rescue bots with a sense of smell that can lead them directly to a trapped survivor. Whatever the future uses and regardless of possible ramifications, for a dragonfly to be synched up with machines is quite a feat to accomplish and all-around amazing!