New robots could have living bugs for hands

Scientists in Japan have created a way to manipulate insects into picking up objects with their tarsal claws underwater.

Tohoku University is currently experimenting with bugs that could be used in conjunction with robots. The new research utilizes woodlice and chitons, an underwater mollusk, to assist robots to manipulate or grab onto objects.

In the experiments, the Japanese university 3D printed attachments for the robots and then placed them on the insect’s tarsal claws. During their time underwater, the woodlouse – or pill bugs – manipulated a piece of cotton, and the sticky chitons were used to pick up different items from the tank.

A video from the New Scientist shows the pillbug gripping onto the cotton, as well as the chiton being used in an attempt to grab objects.

However, as reported by the New Scientist, there are some against the use of live creatures being used in such a way. Josephine Galipon, one of the scientists on the experiment said that the pillbugs were released into the wild afterward.

Bugs could be the future of robotics

It also isn’t the first time that bugs have been used in similar tests. In 2022, a dead spider was the subject of another alternative to grabbing things with robots. It was dubbed “necrobotic” by critics.

This sparked a backlash from two researchers, who called it an “omen”.

In the abstract of the paper submitted critically analyzing the experiment, James Tyner and Stian Rice said:

“We view the necrobotic spider as an omen, one that calls us to refigure our understanding of violence in a post-humanist and post-anthropocentric way.”

Nearly 15 years ago, another experiment reported on by New Scientist involved creating a driving simulator for flies. The experiment saw a fly tethered and unable to move while a series of images were projected onto it. Tricking it into thinking it was moving, the fly was able to navigate a small device with wheels around some paper pillars.