With the advancement of technology, rapid location of victims trapped by collapsing structures is critical to improving chances of survival in urban search and rescue missions. Traditional methods suffer from processing difficulties, limited range, environmental sensitivity, and slow search speeds.

The miniature semi-living hybrid robot combines a living insect with a miniature electronic controller to provide both the locomotion of an insect and the controllability of a robot. The hybrid robot is small, lightweight and able to penetrate rubble in order to locate trapped victims. The results of the study show that the hybrid robot is able to navigate in unknown environments, traverse obstacles, detect the presence of people, and wirelessly transmit information to a remote console. This research provides an innovative solution for urban search and rescue missions, overcoming the limitations of micro-robots in autonomous navigation and human presence detection.