Scientists Turn Dead Spider Corpses Into Biohybrid Necrobots

Dead spiders tend to curl up in a rather creepy clawed position, but beyond looking a little ominous, it seems their lifeless bodies may have useful applications in robotics. Scientists from Rice University have harnessed the unusual locomotion mechanism of wolf spiders to create a type of robotics they’ve coined “necrobotics”. That’s right. Scientists are making robots out of dead spiders.

The necrobots are featured in a 2022 paper published in Advanced Science, which includes videos showing how these dead wolf spider necrobots can be used. In one video, a necrobot is shown disrupting an electrical circuit; in another, it picks up an object. There's even a demonstration of a wolf spider necrobot lifting another dead spider.

Transforming a spider’s corpse into a robot involves understanding how these creatures move. Unlike animals that use muscles, spiders rely on hydraulic pressure to control their eight legs. A specialized structure called the prosoma chamber allows them to channel bodily fluids into their limbs, causing them to extend. When the fluid volume decreases, the legs retract to their natural, clawed position.

“It happens to be the case that the spider, after it’s deceased, is the perfect architecture for small-scale, naturally derived grippers,” said Daniel Preston of Rice’s George R. Brown School of Engineering, who worked on the study, in a statement.

Using a needle and some superglue, the researchers created a seal in the prosoma chamber so they could effectively inject air into the spider’s limbs, causing them to inflate and extend. Reducing that air pressure then allowed the legs to close in again, creating a mechanical gripper made of biotic materials, even if they are a bit dead.

As for how the dead spider necrobots could be utilized, the biotic mechanical grabbers were found to be quite hardy, lasting around 1,000 trials before starting to crumble. With the help of a little coating, Preston suspects they could be useful in pick-and-place tasks, such as in the assembly of microelectronics.

They could also be deployed to capture insects in nature, said lead author and Rice University Engineering PhD student Faye Yap, since the necrobots would be well-camouflaged. 

Who knows, dead-spider mechanical-grabbing necrobots could soon be coming to a park near you...

An earlier version of this story was published in July 2022.