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Cockroach stories are very resilient and can survive almost anything.

I came in to say this exact same thing. I've heard this story so many times over my lifetime, the idea that this is the "future" feels like Tesla's Full Self Driving Robotaxi fleet, just a few years away every year!

It’s not a dead end per se because cockroaches are used as a model organism in neuroscience experiments. They’re just not very useful outside of academic research for the same reason that they’re useful in the lab: their brains are very simple.

I think this application would only work if they were released as a swarm, using basic triangulation of the mesh network to get them to spread out throughout the rubble, exploiting their natural ability to crawl all over the place in great numbers.

"Everyone: remain calm. Our mobile cockroach nest has just arrived and we'll be sending in the swarm, just as soon we can get them geared up and briefed. On the off-chance anyone isn't pinned and can still move their legs, please don't step on them!"