# From KAIST robot beetles to Harvard robot bees: the practical value of biomimetic robotic animals

- Source: The Robot Report
- Published: 2026-10-31T12:30:46.000Z
- RoboHot: https://robohot.news/en/items/j7ufjjvp2dzk9z9lszbodd7qu
- Original: https://www.therobotreport.com/unusual-robotic-animals-can-prove-their-utility/

## Summary

KAIST and other institutions are developing biomimetic robotic animals such as robot beetles and robot ants to solve practical problems including rescue and detection. A cyborg cockroach at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore carries a microcomputer, gas sensors, and an infrared thermal camera, and is remote-controlled via electrode pulses; a single roach can survey about 100 square meters of rubble, but a full survey of a building would require about 500 roaches and 500 operators. A robot ant at Stanford University can carry a payload 2,000 times its own mass, grips using a gecko-inspired foot design, and requires wired power in industrial settings due to its high energy consumption.