One area where research is highly secretive and very little details are released to the media is that of robotics and machine intelligence. A very sinister and relatively recent development has been the invention of insect-size cyborg insects and drones that can be fitted with cameras, sound systems and the latest stealth technologies to avoid detection. These can be controlled from miles away and have emerged as a powerful new espionage weapon.
These tiny robotic spies can be living insects such as a beetle, cockroach or an ant that can be transformed into a cyborg through a pre-programmed remote controlled chip implanted in its brain. This makes it possible for the movement of such insects to be controlled from a distance. The ‘stimulator chips’ on such insects can be powered by special tiny batteries.
Some of these weapons have been developed through a programme funded by a US defence funding agency, Darpa. They have also been developed in Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena under a project funded by Nasa. In some cases the tiny robots may look like insects but they may be purely mechanical robots.
3D printing technology has been employed for the mass production of all the parts of tiny robots that look like insects. This will allow millions of such devices to be produced cheaply to invade all the important secret organisations of an enemy state or group. The technology used simulates the way insects can squeeze themselves through the tiniest holes or crevices by flattening their bodies while passing through.
Scientists at UC Berkeley's Biomimetic Millisystems Lab have developed a tiny robot called the ‘STAR’ (Sprawl Tuned Autonomous Robot) that is able to bend its legs and assume a flat position while wriggling through a crevice such as that at the bottom of a door. It can change its ‘sprawl angle’ by as much as 150 degrees. Once through, it can raise its legs again and climb over large obstacles.
A ProJet 3000 3D printer was used to make all the parts of the body and legs of the STAR, thereby allowing cheap mass production., It can run on the ground at a speed of 11.6 km per hour and take a 360 degree turn when so ordered electronically within a second. The tremendous potential for espionage by such devices may change the way wars are fought in the future.
Intelligent devices are not just confined to insect drones. Intelligent ammunition has been developed that can be programmed to behave in a predetermined manner. For instance one problem faced in combat situations is to shoot down an enemy that may be hiding in bunkers or around corners or in buildings.
Radio-controlled bullets have been developed in the US. These can be fired from an XM25 rifle fitted with a laser finder that can calculate the exact distance of the target. The bullet can then be programmed to explode within three meters of the target, near or above him, killing the person. The rifle hence acts essentially as a grenade launcher. The 25 mm round contains a tiny chip to which the signal can be sent from the gun sight so that it explodes exactly where needed.
In another related development, Darpa has funded a US$50 million programme to develop brain-controlled artificial limbs that will enhance the strength of arms or legs when worn by a soldier, turning him into a ‘Robocop’ type fighting machine. In this connection, John Donoghue at Brown University has developed ‘BrainGate’ technology that allows persons to have computers interfaced with their brains, so that one can have lightning fast responses through thought signals.
Fighter aircraft is a multi-billion dollar industry and western powers often sell them to opposing enemy countries. For instance US aircraft are sold to both Israel as well as many OIC member states. In a war situation it may be desirable for the country selling these aircraft to be able to exert control so that the aircraft sold to one of the two warring parties are remotely disabled.
This can now readily be achieved by using ‘adulterated’ microchips that are designed to fail when activated by external signals. Important flight controls, guidance systems and firing mechanisms can thus be easily disabled by the right signal, converting the F-15s and other very expensive aircrafts to mere sitting ducks.
Engineers at the Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio and the electronics company Rockwell Automation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin have demonstrated how microchips can be converted into ‘Trojan horses’. They can be activated by an external signal when required to disable vital equipment.
Such adulterated chips are almost impossible to detect because of the complex electronic circuitry in the installed equipment. Countries that have failed to develop their own defence weaponry and are reliant on others may find that the sense of security they get after spending tens of billions of dollars is simply an illusion! All it would take is an electronic signal sent from an ‘enemy’ aircraft or from a ground station to disable an entire fleet.
In another exciting development, a cloaking device that can make tanks invisible has been developed by BAE, a global company that specialises in making defence weapons and has sales of over 22 billion British pounds. It involves the use of metamaterials – specialised materials that can make objects disappear by bending light away. BAE engineers have succeeded in cloaking tanks/vehicles with hexagonal sheaths of such a material.
The hexagons can act as pixels and combine together to create an infra-red image that is formed by an onboard camera that records the surrounding landscape and projects it from the surface of the tank. The tank can thus disappear to the outside observer and appear just as trees and bushes. The technology can also be applied for cloaking ships, aircraft and helicopters.
Pakistan and other OIC member states have been relying largely on imports from the west. They will discover that they were supplied weaponry that is outdated and ineffective against the latest systems available with the enemy. Over 50 percent of the research expenditure in the US is contributed by US defence agencies such as Nasa, Darpa, the US air force, the Office of Naval Research etc.
Much of this funding is given to universities and private companies in order to develop specific capabilities. In Pakistan our armed forces spend little or nothing in research. It is vitally important that at least 10 percent of our defence budget is spent annually in strengthening our universities in fields such as nanotechnology, material sciences and robotics so that our dependence on foreign equipment can be reduced and we become exporters instead of importers of sophisticated defence equipment.
The writer is the former chairman of the Higher Education Commission and currently president of Pakistan Academy of Sciences. Email: ibne_sina@hotmail.com

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