Spider-Web-Like Artificial Network for Smart Capture

The construction of multifunctional spiderwebs by spiders, achieved through the synergistic integration of flagelliform silk, aggregate silk, and major ampullate silk, enables tasks such as prey capture, wind sensing, and water collection from the air. However, replicating spiderweb-like functionality using simple artificial systems remains challenging. Herein, the principles of structural and functional bioinspiration are employed to functionalize carbon nanotube fibers into capture fibers and signaling fibers, mimicking the function of flagelliform silk/aggregate silk, and major ampullate silk, respectively. The prepared capture fiber exhibits viscosity, humidity sensitivity, and actuation capabilities like the combination of flagelliform silk and aggregate silk, while the signal fiber resembles major ampullate silk, capable of sensing object touch through triboelectric signals and identifying the materials of touched objects. These functional fiber components are then assembled into an artificial spiderweb, which is further integrated with machine learning and Internet of Things technology to enable smart object capture. Similar to natural spiderwebs, this functionality is achieved by regulating web tension and relaxation through the switchover between wetting and drying states. The artificial network underscores the importance of learning from nature and expands the boundaries of soft robotics by integrating mutually complementary functions within a single system of simple construction.