Dead Spiders Made Alive Again; Rice Researchers Develop Robot Version of These Arachnids

Texas scientists have recently devised what's described as "veritable" spider robots by "robotically" controlling dead spiders to grasp objects using their legs, as seen in a spine-tingling video.

This so-called spidermetic technology "is causing arachnophobes to lose it," a New York Post report specified. According to engineer Daniel Preston from Rice University's George R. Brown School of Engineering, who helped experiment, the invention happens to be the case that the spider, after it died, is the perfect architecture for small-scale naturally deprived grippers.

Preston's lab specializes in soft robotics, employing nontraditional components instead of regular metals, plastics, and electronics.

In their most recent experiment, the team developed a technique to pump arachnid cadavers filled with air, a technology they called "necrobotics," so they can open and eventually grab objects like a dreadful claw machine.

Discovering Why Spiders Curl Up After They Die

Members of the experiment with findings published in the Advanced Science journal were reportedly inspired following their observation of the crawling animals' body positions post-mortem.

Rice graduate student Faye Yap, who helmed the experiment, said they were moving things around in the lab and noticed a curled-up spider at the edge of the hallway. She added, that they got curious as to why spiders curl up after they die.

A subsequent quest showed that, different from humans, who have antagonistic muscles which are contracting and relaxing, spiders boast "flexor muscles" enabling their legs to curl in, and they extend them outward through hydraulic pressure, Yap explained.

Internal valves in the hydraulic chamber of the spiders, in particular, or prosoma, contract to deliver blood to the limbs to force blood to their legs, making them extend.

When spiders die, they lose their ability to pressurize their bodies actively. That is the reason they're curling up. Yap, who wanted to harness such a mechanism for real-world applications, continued to explain.

.

Arachnid Marionettes

Devising these arachnid marionettes was simple enough. Simply, they superglued a needle into a wolf spider's prosoma, selected because of the ability of the species to lift more than 150 percent of its body weight, as specified in a Rice release.

Then, they attached the other end of the needle to the handheld syringe, which they injected a shot of air that led the legs of the necrobot to unfurl nearly instantaneously.

When the team did it, shared Yap, and the strategy worked. She added, that she doesn't even know how to describe their invention the moment when they see it move.

An accompanying video demonstration, as seen on Rice University's YouTube video, exhibits how the experimenters used the Frankenspider to do everything from control circuit boards to hoisting another spider.

Functional Necrobots

According to ScienceDaily, Preston foresees necrobots offering a host of useful functions, like sorting or moving objects around at such small scales, and perhaps, things like an assembly of microelectronics.

Yap explained that another application could be deploying it to catch tinier insects in nature as it is inherently camouflaged.

Best of all, the necrobots were somewhat sturdy, as they experienced 1,000 open-close cycles before they experienced wear and tear.

Preston said they are also far better for the environment than non-organic robots since they are biodegradable.

He added they are not introducing "a big waste stream," which can be a problem with more traditional components.

Despite the lab's success, online arachnophobes did not take kindly to this so-called "post-mortem puppeteering."

Nonetheless, the team guaranteed people they should not be alarmed. Eventually, the necrobotics experts believe the technology is a major milestone in the realm of soft robots.

Check out more news and information on Robots in Science Times.