Scientists with a high tolerance for creepy-crawlies have figured out how to create and control cyborg cockroaches.

How would you like to see this scooting across your kitchen floor?

If Borg ships have vermin on them, they look exactly like a project researchers at North Carolina State University are working on.

These intrepid scientists have taken a lightweight chip with a wireless receiver and transmitter and attached it to a cockroach like a little backpack. For the record, large Madagascar hissing cockroaches are the roach of choice.

A microcontroller is connected to the roach's antennae and cerci (rear sensory organs). Small charges from the wires to the cerci trick the roach into moving in response to a perceived threat. Charges sent to the antennae make the roach think it's bumped into something. Between the two, you have a fairly sophisticated method of cockroach steering.

The researchers imagine using this cyborg cockroach technology to send the little beasties into tight spaces to search for survivors after disasters.

I imagine using this cyborg cockroach technology to scare the bejesus out of unsuspecting friends and for reenacting "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episodes with cockroach actors.

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Eek! Remote-controlled cyborg cockroaches are real