Communications of the ACM
Computing With Spiders' Webs
Researchers are examining spiders' webs to determine their computational capabilities; based on this research, they will develop new sensor technology to measure vibrations and flow.
Credit: University of Bristol News
Researchers at the universities of Bristol and Oxford in the U.K. are examining spiders' webs to determine their computational capabilities, and based on this research they will develop new sensor technology to measure vibrations and flow.
The researchers will examine the structure of spiders' webs to understand how their designs could be used as a computer, a line of research known as morphological computation. Morphological computation is a design approach, often used in robotics, that considers the body of a robot vital for any intelligent behavior.
"The idea of intelligent morphological structures is not just useful for spiders, but can be developed into novel, intelligent sensor technologies, especially for vibration and flow sensors," says Bristol's Helmut Hauser.
The researchers believe the results of the study could provide insights into the way morphological features of biological sensors are utilized in bio-inspired sensor design.
From University of Bristol News
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