Ever wondered how devices like cochlear implants can use electricity to make people perceive sounds? The answer lies in microstimulation of neurons. The RoboRoach lets you study this effect hands-on! Our DIY cyborg experiment lets you briefly influence a cockroach's movements by microstimulating its antenna nerves via a Bluetooth backpack.
In this lab, you'll learn about microstimulation, surgical prep, animal husbandry, and neuroadaptation!
The RoboRoach is the world’s first commercially available insect cyborg kit—originally designed to teach about advanced neurotechnologies. By sending brief electrical impulses to a roach’s antenna nerves (via a Bluetooth microcontroller backpack), you can evoke turning behaviors. These impulses mimic natural sensory signals, causing the roach to interpret them as obstacles on one side, and briefly turn away. With repeated stimulation, the roach adapts and ignores the stimulus—demonstrating habituation, a fundamental form of learning.
This project is rooted in neural engineering principles used in real-world prosthetics and deep-brain stimulation therapies. The kit includes a small circuit board, a coin battery, and micro-stimulator electrodes. You’ll learn basic cockroach anatomy, how to anesthetize insects safely with ice water, and how to implant electrodes for short-term experiments. We use large discoid cockroaches because they are easy to handle, low in activity, and big enough to carry the backpack. They also have a decentralized nervous system that we can interface with nonlethally.
Before starting, gather all necessary supplies: your RoboRoach kit, a healthy adult cockroach, cold/ice water for anesthesia, sandpaper, super glue gel, hot glue, tweezers, scissors, a small needle, cotton swabs, and a stable workspace. The procedure takes about 1–2 hours, including preparation, surgery, and cleanup. Important: Only perform the surgery on adult cockroaches (wings visible). Immature roaches still need to molt. Gluing an electrode connector to a juvenile will prevent it from molting properly. Use ice water to anesthetize the roach. Because cockroaches are ectotherms, cooling them reduces neural activity and renders them temporarily immobile.
Data & Observations:
Further Exploration:
Science Fair Ideas:
References & Resources:
Ethics & Safety: Always handle your cockroach gently. Provide proper care, food, and water. Limit stimulation and allow ample time between trials to minimize stress. Refer to your local guidelines on invertebrate research.
Have fun exploring the frontier of neural interfaces! Share your data and questions with us at hello@backyardbrains.com. Happy experimenting!
Biomedical engineers tune the stimulation settings of neuroprosthetics such as cochlear implants and deep-brain stimulators the same way: enough to work every time, and never more than needed. Use your RoboRoach app’s settings (frequency, pulse width, gain and duration) to do the same for your cyborg.
MS-LS1-8 Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.
Stimulating the antenna nerves mimics a sensory signal, and the roach turns away as if it met an obstacle.
HS-LS1-2 Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms.
Draw the pathway from the stimulated antenna nerve to the brain and the legs: sensory nerve, brain and legs steer the roach together.
MS-ETS1-2 Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
Score at least three stimulation settings against ranked criteria in one table (design challenge).
MS-ETS1-3 Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
Compare at least three settings in a table, combine the best features into one final setting and test it again (design challenge).
HS-ETS1-3 Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
Weigh a reliable turn against the least stimulation and the animal's welfare, as engineers who tune neurostimulators must (design challenge).
1 Asking Questions and Defining Problems
Define the problem: rank criteria for a reliable turn with the least stimulation (design challenge).
2 Developing and Using Models
Draw the pathway your stimulation follows, from backpack to antenna nerve to brain to legs, and use it to explain the turn.
3 Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
Implant the electrodes, then stimulate each setting 5 times with rests between settings.
4 Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Count turns and note when habituation sets in for each setting.
6 Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Design a final setting from the test data, retest it, and explain the trade-offs (design challenge).
Cause and Effect
A stimulus on one side causes a turn away.
Systems and System Models
Backpack, nerves and roach form one system.
Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural World Engineering connection
The same principles are used in prosthetics and deep-brain stimulation.
LS1.D Information Processing
Sensory signals from the antennae guide behavior; repeated stimuli lead to habituation.
ETS1.B Developing Possible Solutions
Test several settings against ranked criteria in one table.
ETS1.C Optimizing the Design Solution
Combine the best features of the tested settings and retest.
Backyard Brains mapping using the book's method. Not in the book. Engineering claims rest on the design challenge on this page (Greg, 2026-10-08).
