NEW YORK: Unexpectedly, robotics actually gets ideas as they watch how spiders move or run. First robots do not use their joints as humans do; they actually fill up their joints with haemolymph to align it to be able to move. Haemolymph is a liquid substance or fluid equivalent to blood in most invertebrates.
Haemolymph is just like other fluids that tend to grow thick and sticky in consistency when there is a slight change or drop of temperature. This had made Nick Booster from Pitzer College to be curious about if spider’s movements are affected by temperature change.
If the question can then be answered, it would greatly contribute to the design of robots where hydraulic fluid is used to help move its limbs. Booster spoke to Anna Ahn and Steve Adolph and told them of his idea on his research to study the influence of temperature on spider movement as the two excitedly agreed to join in the study.
