MADE ON EARTH
Report from the world of backyard technology
Photography by Garnet Hertz
Insect Inside
Garnet Hertz will never want or need to debug his mobile robot, because it’s controlled by a live cockroach. Fastened into the three-wheeled vehicle via velcro cemented to its back, the bug drives by moving a ping-pong ball under its feet. The ball fits into the workings of a Kensington trackball, turned 45 degrees so that its two axes correspond to angled-left and angled-right, rather than horizontal and vertical. The movements are then decoded and amplified by transistors to drive left and right rear wheels, which turn in slightly to reflect ...
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