Conceptual design of a coleopterans catcher: basic requirements for developing capture systems of edible beetles

Resumen

Given the explosive growth of world population and the persistent famine insome regions, concern for food and nutrition becomes relevant. In this regard, differentsources to satisfy this growing demand are studied, implying some cultural changes.Industrial designers want to provide products that improve the quality of life, care theenvironment and make a positive contribution to cultural changes. In this context,arthropods in general and beetles in particular, today should be considered as a naturalresource available, especially regarding their role along the history. The purpose of thiswork is to have a friendly look to the arthropods resource, which in near future shouldprovide part of the proteins, minerals and vitamins that people need to survive. Arthropodshave higher protein content than other species, such as beef, pork or poultry; the latterbeing resources that have uncontrollably raised the amount of methane in the atmosphere.Since the oldest known insect that resembles species of coleopteran date back to the 270million year ago, beetles have been able to survive three massive extinctions, so theybecame an interesting source of food for facing scarcity from environment. The toolsdesigned allow to capture of edible beetles in ergonomic way. This capture system takesadvantage of anatomy and physiology of coleopterans. In fact, these devices are designedbased on the weaknesses of beetles. Once inside the containers, the insects can bedirectly assigned to human food or breeding.