Researchers are getting closer to creating a fully remote controlled spy insect, thanks to funding from DARPA, the research and development arm of the Department of Defense. Using radio-controlled electrodes attached to the bug’s brain, scientists are able to “overtake the beetle’s freewill about where it wants to go,” opening up the possibility of using the robo-bug for all types of dangerous military reconnaissance work.

Interestingly, this insect enslavement experiment is described as “the next step in evolution between human and animal cooperation” by a military reporter for the News Tribune who goes on to reference “the horse and buggy, and a bird in a coal mine,” other good examples of animal servitude, not collaboration.