Science News Explores reports that engineers used syringes to turn dead wolf spiders into grippers.
A 2022 Rice University study describes engineers inserting a needle into each dead wolf spider, sealing it with glue and using air pressure to turn the body into a gripper. The paper reports that the grippers lifted objects up to 130% of their own mass and endured 700 cycles before degradation began.
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In a 2022 experiment, Rice University mechanical engineers turned dead wolf spiders into air-powered grippers, using the animals’ own leg mechanics instead of fabricating a conventional robot hand. The peer-reviewed study in Advanced Science introduced the term “necrobotics” for using nonliving biological material as robotic components.
Spiders extend their legs hydraulically. Pressure generated in the prosoma, the body section connected to the legs, pushes hemolymph into the limbs. Flexor muscles pull the legs inward. After death, the pressure disappears, leaving the legs curled.
The researchers inserted a 25-gauge needle into a dead wolf spider’s prosoma and sealed the connection with glue. A syringe or other pressure source delivered air through the needle. Raising the pressure opened the legs; releasing it allowed them to close. The paper describes the setup as a single-step fabrication process after the glue cured.
The grippers handled objects with irregular shapes and lifted loads weighing up to 130% of their own mass. The researchers measured a peak gripping force of 0.35 millinewtons and demonstrated the devices moving objects, manipulating a circuit board and lifting another dead spider.
Because all the internal valves were open after death, the experiment moved the legs together rather than controlling each one separately. The team could also operate a gripper by hand with a syringe, without a powered test rig.
The device did not sense its surroundings, navigate or choose what to grasp. Those capabilities, along with independent control of individual legs, remained ideas for future work.
Durability was another limit. The paper reports that degradation began after 700 opening-and-closing cycles as the spider body dehydrated. The researchers proposed protective coatings to slow water loss, but their coating tests were preliminary.
The authors framed necrobotics as an initial demonstration of how biological structures might serve as ready-made robotic parts. Their spider gripper was biodegradable and naturally camouflaged, but the experiment did not establish long-term reliability or a practical deployment outside the laboratory.
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