Unless an asteroid or deadly pandemic wipes us out first, the force we are most afraid will rob us of our place as rulers of Earth is robots. The warnings range from sarcastic to nervous to dead serious, but they all describe the same scenario: Robots become sentient, join forces and turn on us en masse.
But with all the paranoia about machines, we've ignored another possibility: Animals learn to control robots and decide it's their turn to rule the planet. This would be even more dangerous than dolphins evolving opposable thumbs. And the first signs of this coming threat are already starting to appear in laboratories around the world where robots are being driven by birds, trained by moths and controlled by the minds of monkeys.
Above:
Silkmoth Cruiser
One of the most recent examples of animal-driven robots is this two-wheeled car steered by a male silkmoth. Researchers at the University of Tokyo in Japan placed the moth on a giant white ball that allowed it to control the vehicle much like a hand on a computer mouse. The insect was in hot pursuit of a female silkmoth's pheromone, which had been laid down by the scientists and, unfortunately for the male, not a lady moth looking for love.
The researchers hoped to characterize the moth's tracking behavior and perhaps create autonomous robots that can follow chemical smells. The male moth just hoped to impress a classy gal with his sweet cruiser.
Video: Institute of Physics/Youtube