• How to perform a simple surgical procedure (antenna implantation) on cockroaches.
• Basics of neural microstimulation and sensory neuron pathways.
• Ethical and scientific considerations when experimenting with living organisms.
• The concept of neural adaptation and learning.

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.