Military buzz: race, robots and insects

ABSTRACT Claiming to “let evolution do the thinking for you,” biologists are teaming up with roboticists and computer engineers in the emerging field of biomimetics to build animal-machines. One of the outcomes of these interdisciplinary collaborations is the development of biomimetic robot-insects: robots inspired by insect life. Biomimetic scientists assert that their technologies will be cleaner, greener, and more holistic, since they imitate Mother Earth’s own capabilities, including for waging war. For example, biomimetic scientists regularly cite the examples of Velcro – a technology inspired by the ways that burrs attach to the fur on a dog’s back – or solar panels – which are inspired by the way that leaves convert sunlight into energy. The specific focus of this article is on biomimetic insect-robot technologies; specifically the development of robots that imitate swarming behavior. Grounding the rise of these swarming technologies in a cultural context preoccupied with an increase in militarization, I show that although biomimetic scientists often claim that these technologies will be more environmentally friendly, in fact they rely upon reified assumptions about “Nature,” on the commodification of Indigenous knowledges, and on racist metaphors of terrorists as “swarms” as part of their technological development. Examining a specific swarm of insect-robots known as nano quadrotors, I demonstrate that the imitation of Mother Earth does not reflect the natural world as it is but instead works to shape that world, and, in doing so, I problematize the utopian possibilities suggested for biomimetic swarming technologies.