A science education kit that lets children implant electrodes into a cockroach's brain and then control the beetle with a smartphone app has the protest group, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, up in arms.

Backyard Brains, which sells the RoboRoach, argues that its product is not a toy, but an educational kit designed to teach people about biological systems. PETA says the kit is akin to practising veterinary medicine without a licence and the organisation has filed a complaint with Michigan's attorney general and state regulators.

RoboRoach: PETA objects.

PETA isn't the only one that thinks mind-controlled insects are a little ethically iffy, of course. Some scientists consider the project problematic because it democratises animal experimentation, not to mention the possible lingering effects it might have on the wellbeing of the roaches. One bioethicist even likened RoboRoach to one of the three Unforgivable Curses from Harry Potter.

"We're not breaking any laws," said Greg Gage, the co-founder Backyard Brains, told Time. "These are roaches that people would easily kill in their apartments."