What’s Hot: Engineers use dead spiders to create creepy robots

The mechanical engineers say they are using a syringe filled with air to re-animate the legs of a dead wolf-spider.

News 12 Staff

Jul 28, 2022, 12:06 PM

Updated 807 days ago

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Those creepy crawlies that hang on barely visible webs in the corner? Scientists are turning them into zombie robots!
It sounds like a sci-fi movie -- but it is real-life science.
This is video of a necro-botic project being undertaken at Rice University.
The mechanical engineers say they are using a syringe filled with air to re-animate the legs of a dead wolf-spider.
They then use those legs to pick up other items -- some of them larger and heavier than the spider.
The engineers say they are able to do this because a spider's legs work like hydraulics. They use pressure to extend and contract their limbs.
While the scientists tout this as a cool stunt, they also say it could be useful for projects like assembling microelectronics or capturing smaller insects in nature.