The team was inspired to create their hair-raising creation after they stumbled upon a dead spider moving things around their lab one day. After noticing how it curled when it died, they discovered that spider legs don’t have muscles like humans do, but instead rely on hydraulic pressure to move their limbs.
“We understand that many people are put off by the sight of a spider, but from an engineering point of view, the spider’s mechanism of movement is very interesting,” Yap said. “It definitely warrants taking a closer look at these creatures, and learning more from them.”
The team decided to see if they could actually control the legs. The mechanism was pretty straightforward: Yap inserted a syringe into a dead wolf spider’s internal hydraulic chamber and added some superglue to hold it in place. Then she added a small amount of air and the spider’s legs instantly opened. Voila! You have the world’s most cursed grabber tool.
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