However, it said that if insects were to be equipped with control mechanisms and other add-on kit, the equipment would require a power source.

BBC: Cyborg search-and-rescue insects' power source unveiled

Prof Dan Goldman, who was also involved in the study, explained that these remarkably successful insects were able to manipulate their environment - using it to control their movement.

BBC: Ant studies to aid design of search and rescue robots

So the native South African took the insects (Scarabaeus satyrus) into the Johannesburg planetarium where she could control the type of star fields a beetle might see overhead.

BBC: Dung beetles guided by Milky Way