MIT builds Silk Pavilion with a robot and 6,500 silkworm caterpillars

A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology decided to test how close the relationship between “digital and natural technology” is. For this, a special frame of a special form was created, and with the help of a robot, additional silk threads were stretched in the directions that are commonly used by caterpillars that build a cocoon. Then 6500 silkworm caterpillars were placed on the frame, which really began to work, creating a huge silk sculpture-pavilion for its size.

The caterpillars did a great job, almost complete their work. By the way, the researchers called the tracks a “natural 3D printer,” which is, in fact, true. After the work was finished, the caterpillars were removed from the surface of the silk, but, as far as can be understood, they were not killed, but left for further pupation. The offspring of the current "workers" can be used to create several hundred of such pavilions, if necessary.
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Probably, in the future, the experiment will be repeated for more complex structures or structures that have a different shape. Whatever it was, and the researchers proved that they wanted - science was able to achieve the cooperation of wildlife with robotic devices.

And here is the video from the project: