For many, cockroaches shouldn’t exist because the very thought of them creates great revulsion, but for a German company they could be first-rate cyborg fodder. And to employ them as agents they have gone so far as to equip them with tiny backpacks full of sensors and controlled by AI to be able to infiltrate any site. However, behind the spectacular commercial promises about squadrons of spy insects, the science has some doubts.
the hero is SWARM Bioactic, a startup founded in 2024 that defines itself as a developer of biorobotic systems based on fully controllable living insects for complex operations. From here, in June 2025, the company announced an investment round involving significant funding, orienting its technology towards defense, national security or disaster response.
The company’s CEO, Stefan Wilhelm, explained that its biorobots carry neural stimulation modules, sensors and secure communication systems. And, as it turns out, the company’s neuroscientists implanted electrodes in insects’ antennae to stimulate their natural navigational abilities.
The door is not closed. Right now we know that the company maintains that the system is not at all painful for animals and confirms that it is trying to test it in the field together with the German armed forces. And although cockroaches are very interesting, the company does not want to limit itself to them, but is also exploring being able to use it on grasshoppers or grasshoppers.
It is not new. This concept may seem revolutionary in the defense field, but behind it lies a line of research that has been developing for decades. For example, in group navigation, one study demonstrated the ability to develop a leader-following scheme in which one cockroach guides 19 others through unknown terrain.
The problem that arose was the power supply of the whole system, but here the integration of a battery in a 3D printed backpack in the thorax can generate up to 17.2 MW of power without compromising its natural mobility.
Great range. The promise of autonomous AI-piloted spies faces a biological wall of habit. And the insect, being a living creature, ceases to respond to repeated electrical stimulation over time. This means that effective animal control is limited to a few minutes.
Here, some very controlled studies have managed to extend this time to 3 hours, while others stay at 47 minutes with adaptive control. This is why the concept of “autonomous spies” working continuously and indefinitely is still far ahead of what the published literature shows in controlled environments.
animal welfare As is always the case when researching animals, it is essential that they do not suffer. But here we are not clear whether cockroaches can suffer or not, since some studies have shown that they feel it, while others believe that they cannot subjectively suffer pain.
Picture | Eric Corrits
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