{"id":56559,"date":"2026-06-12T11:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/?p=56559"},"modified":"2026-06-12T12:08:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:08:55","slug":"spider-senses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/impact\/spider-senses\/","title":{"rendered":"Spider Senses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Chen
Chen Li, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Eugene Ho-Yu Lin, graduate student<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although functionally blind, orb-weaving spiders catch prey on their webs by sensing vibrations with their legs while crouching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand this behavior, Chen Li<\/a>\u2019s mechanical engineering<\/a> lab, along with biology Assistant Professor Andrew Gordus<\/a> and civil and systems engineering<\/a> Assistant Professor Jochen Mueller<\/a>, created a spider robot with vibration sensors. It hangs at the center of a wheel-shaped web, and, while crouching, shakes its web to detect a prey robot caught on a spiral thread. It locates the prey by sensing a change in vibration frequency. The closer the prey robot, the shorter its spiral thread, and the higher its frequency\u2014just like a shorter guitar string that vibrates at a higher pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These findings could inform next-generation robotic sensors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hopkins engineers have created a spider robot that could inform next-generation robotic sensors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":57912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"issue":[105],"class_list":["post-56559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact","issue-spring-2026"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSpider Senses - Johns Hopkins Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/impact\/spider-senses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spider Senses - Johns Hopkins Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hopkins engineers have created a spider robot that could inform next-generation robotic sensors.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/impact\/spider-senses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Johns Hopkins Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-12T15:01:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-12T16:08:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/spider-close-up-on-green-leaf-2026-03-17-07-56-28-utc-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deboreah Ross\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/impact\\\/spider-senses\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/impact\\\/spider-senses\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Deboreah Ross\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e5619ae16d2b72b2cac7fcbd75b69356\"},\"headline\":\"Spider Senses\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-12T15:01:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-12T16:08:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/impact\\\/spider-senses\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":136,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/impact\\\/spider-senses\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/spider-close-up-on-green-leaf-2026-03-17-07-56-28-utc-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Impact: Faculty Innovation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/impact\\\/spider-senses\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine\\\/impact\\\/spider-senses\\\/\",\"name\":\"Spider Senses - 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