askST: What are the ethical concerns of using animals such as insects in cyborg technology?

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In a building collapse, the cyborg cockroaches can crawl through rubble, and into crevices and confined spaces, to find survivors – a task which is dangerous for humans – and provide front-line responders with critical information.

If you think about malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, there is a very good reason why we do research on them, as there are clear benefits to humans. “For the mitigation of infectious diseases, it wouldn’t be defensible to actually abandon such research

A best-practice recommendation for scientific research is that devices borne by animals, such as birds and dogs, should weigh less than 3 per cent to 5 per cent of their body mass.

replacing live insects with robotics.“ Drones are already being used by some for surveying disaster areas. And the question would be – could you not replace insects, for example, with relatively small robots that you could build to crawl into tiny crevices?

Qn: Can the use of animals for scientific research ever be justified? (Cam. 2017)