Scientists reanimate dead spiders as robot gripping claws

You can reuse what nature created when you design your own robot.

Engineers at Rice University were able to transform dead spiders into robotic gripping claws. The scientists have dubbed their new area of research "necrobotics" and say it could create cheap, effective, and Biodegradable alternatives to current robotic systems.

Why do spiders do that? Spiders have a single flexor muscle in their legs that draws the leg inward. A spider has a prosoma, a chamber in the center of the spider's body, which pushes out fluid to open the leg. When a spider dies, there is no pressure in the system to oppose the legs.

The team from Rice University discovered that they could use a needle to open a dead spider's prosoma and close it using a claw.

You can see a video of their work.

The perfect architecture for small scale, naturally derived grippers can be found in the spider. The spiders are able to lift more than 130 percent of their body weight.

A team from Rice University has published a paper in the journal Advanced Science. Humans have a long history of using dead organisms for new purposes, from the hides of animals worn as clothes to bones used in arrows and tools. It's not unusual to turn a dead spider into a robot.

Scientists note that roboticists often draw inspiration for their designs from the natural world, such as copying the undulations of a fish's tail or the sticky surface of a gecko. They thought that copying was not a good idea when you can steal. Through millions of years of evolution, Mother Nature has been able to develop effective mechanisms.

The paper states that the concept of necrobotics proposed in this work takes advantage of unique designs created by nature that can be complicated or impossible to duplicate.

Image: Preston Innovation Laboratory/Rice University

The group ordered their test subjects from a biological supply company, which caused some problems for arachnophobes. One of the employees in the front office doesn't like spiders When there was another delivery coming in for us to use for the project, we had to give a call to the front office to let them know.

The work is a proof of concept at the moment, but could have many future uses. He said in a press statement that there are a lot of pick and place tasks that could be looked into.

Yap said that a spider grabber is "inherently camouflaged."