Scientists create robotics using dead spiders

Today I learned about necrobotics and wish I hadn’t.

This is a wolf spider:

Admittedly it’s kinda cute (for a spider) and not venomous enough to kill you with its bite. And spiders don’t have muscles like humans. Instead, their legs move with hydraulic pressure, much like what’s used in modern manufacturing.

So, scientists at Rice University realized dead spiders have the perfect hydraulic system to replace robotic arms for smaller use cases, like electronics.

They stick a needle into the dead spider’s prosoma sac (which controls fluid levels in its legs) to open and close its legs like a nightmarish claw game. Some superglue is required to form a seal.

They also discovered covering the dead spider in beeswax caused it to deteriorate slower, so each spider grip could last for 1000 uses or a few days before its natural decomposition deteriorates the hydraulic system to the point it no longer works.

Here’s a video of these necrobots in use.

It’s only a matter of time before somebody develops a wolf spider matrix to keep them alive while under mechanical control.

There is no amount of money you could pay me to work in any factory deploying spiders, dead or alive. I’m just not that guy…