Remote Control

Scientists have installed an electronic backpack on giant flower beetles, allowing them to be remotely controlled while in free flight. The technology not only gave the researchers a better insight into how the insects fly, but it could also find use in areas such as search-and-rescue.

Why go to the trouble of designing tiny flying robots from scratch, when there are already ready-made insects that are about the right size? That's the thinking behind research being conducted at North Carolina State University, which is aimed at converting moths into "biobots."

Although no one is saying that aircraft carriers will soon be able to fuel their jet fighters using water from the ocean, such a scenario has recently come a step closer to reality. Scientists have successfully flown a model airplane that was running purely on fuel derived from sea water.

While many people no doubt still look at the da Vinci robotic surgical system as a sort of "wonder of the future," it's actually been around now for over 10 years. Therefore, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the new-and-improved Xi model has just been announced.

Trained dogs can do a lot of things, but one thing that they can’t do in all situations is hear commands made their handlers. That’s why scientists at Alabama’s Auburn University have created a control system to guide them.

Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has announced the availability of its new hydrogen-powered remote-control toy car, the i-H2GO.

The Puzzlebox Orbit brain-controlled helicopter will be available to buy next year, with software/app source code, protocols and hardware schematics freely available under an open-source license.

The AquatiCo project would allow computer users anywhere in the world to control an actual ocean-based submarine over the internet.

Scientists have created a system for steering live cockroaches by remote control.

Newly-developed skin patches could be used to wirelessly deliver acupuncture treatment on demand.

CAMDASS uses augmented reality to provide astronauts with instant medical know-how.

Using inexpensive and widely available technology combined with the latest techniques in optogenetics researchers at Georgia Tech have created genetically engineered remote controlled animals.