Biomedical solutions company called Draper is working on a technology that will turn a dragonfly into a "living drone". The main component of the project, being called "DragonflEye", is a backpack equipped with a solar panel to harvest solar energy. The backpack also houses an integrated guidance and navigation system to send commands to the neurons of the dragonfly that control the insect's flight.

How is the dragonfly insect actually controlled?

A totally different approach to hijack an insect's muscles, the navigation system is composed of optogenetic tools that Draper made with the help of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) at Janelia Farm.

These tools can send commands from the backpack to the "steering" neurons of the insect. To control the steering neurons of an insect, the HHMI researchers found a way to make them sensitive to light by adding genes naturally found in the eyes. With those genes incorporated, the tools or the "optrodes" in the backpack will be able to guide the insects using pulses of light.

Jesse J. Wheeler, the program's lead researcher, said in an interview with IEEE Spectrum that his team has already created the first-generation version of the system. But they have not been able to test it yet, reports Engadget.

The Years of Project

1. In the first year of the project, the team focused on developing core enabling technologies like the backpack, optrode, and synthetic biology toolkit for the dragonfly.
2. In the beginning of the second year, the team is preparing to equip dragonflies with the first-generation backpacks in a motion capture room which can monitor their precise flight movements as data is captured from navigation system. "This will allow us to develop precise onboard tracking algorithms for autonomous navigation."

The technique, if successful, could turn dragonflies into tiny surveillance systems or pollination machines. Also, the backpack, Draper believes, could be used with honeybees and other insects of the same size.