That's right, dune buggies for roaches.

[theweaselking]

Taking a cue from technology that looks to biological systems for inspiration, Garnet Hertz has constructed a three-wheeled robotic vehicle that lets a Madagascan hissing cockroach navigate a room while perched atop a ping-pong ball.

The original goal was to build something that used an insect and operated better than a microprocessor. Unfortunately, this wasn't the outcome. Roaches aren't the most predictable bugs. But he's happy with the results. "I think it's produced a system that's more interesting than a computer," he said. "It depends on what you use to measure it."

Hertz rotates 15 giant Madagascan cockroaches in and out of the driver's seat of the vehicle. Instead of brains, the roaches have ganglia: clumps of nerve cells on various parts of their bodies. Their relatively large size make them easier to work with than other types of roaches, and their tendency to hiss when they are upset lets him know if it's time to give one a break from playing Dale Earnhardt. They have a life span of about three years, so he has plenty of chances to let them drive.