My friends Tim and Greg’s startup Backyard Brains just got featured on Boing Boing. I am so happy for them. I am also totally psyched that some of my past research (a) is getting commercialized and (b) is getting commercialized for good not evil. Tim sent me a text message or the early results a couple of days ago. They still have a ways to go, but I so pleased about the results. Tim and Greg really are the guys I wanted to be as a kid, and they are doing some really important work that deserves much more attention.

Early Robo Roach Prototypes sponsored by DARPA

I just happened to have a few of the old specimens from when I made robo roaches for a DARPA project in undergrad (c. 2001). I took a few photos to show you how far the technology has progressed since I worked on it in 2000. Back then we had a simple “backpack” made from a phone jack and a length of microwire. This setup looks positively arcane when compared to Tim’s self-contained remote control. It is worth noting that the cockroaches in my picture are Gromphadorhina portentosa which are slightly larger than the species they are using at Backyard Brains.