Cyborg Bees: China Develops Tiny Brain Controller for New Military Scouts

Chinese researchers are developing part-machine, part-insect bees by inserting brain controllers into live bees and determining their flight paths.

The engineered bees may one day be deployed for military surveillance or search-and-rescue missions in the aftermath of disasters.

Professor Zhao Jieliang and his research team at the Beijing Institute of Technology recently created the lightest brain controller on record, weighing just 74 milligrams; lighter than a pinch of salt.

This miniature device is strapped onto a worker bee’s back and uses three needle-like probes to deliver instructions directly into the insect’s brain, guiding it to fly in selected directions.

According to test results from Prof. Zhao’s lab, the bees followed the device’s instructions successfully in 90 percent of trials.

The team believes this technology opens the door to using these so-called “cyborg bees” for missions in environments too dangerous or inaccessible for human operatives.

Outfitted with sensors, cameras, and audio tools, the bee-sized drones could gather intelligence discreetly and transmit it back to operators without attracting attention.

Because of their tiny size, these insect scouts could slip through narrow spaces, ideal for reconnaissance in hostile or hard-to-reach zones where conventional technology would struggle.

“Insect-based robots inherit the superior mobility, camouflage capabilities and environmental adaptability of their biological hosts,” Prof Zhao and his team noted in their June 11 paper published in the Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering.

“Compared to synthetic alternatives, they demonstrate enhanced stealth and extended operational endurance, making them invaluable for covert reconnaissance in scenarios such as urban combat, counterterrorism and narcotics interdiction, as well as critical disaster relief operations,” they wrote.

Previous iterations of this research used beetles, which were fitted with microchips and wiring to control their movement using infrared and Bluetooth signals.

One of those prototype “backpacks” weighed just 23 milligrams, less than a third of what today’s cyborg bees carry.

While similar projects have emerged elsewhere, including in Singapore, those devices were bulkier and typically attached to cockroaches. In fact, some of those cockroach cyborgs assisted with locating survivors following the 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar in March.

China is not alone in pursuing this technology. The United States and Japan are also racing to develop insect-machine hybrids.

Despite recent breakthroughs, Prof. Zhao’s team acknowledges hurdles still remain.

Battery life remains a limiting factor; larger batteries would weigh the bee down, while smaller ones run out quickly.

Another complication is that the same neural interface cannot easily be used across different insect species, since each responds to commands through different neurological pathways.

This research aligns with broader trends in Chinese tech miniaturization. Just last month, Beijing unveiled new mosquito-sized drones as part of its expanding micro-robotics program.