Between May and July 2022, Wilde and his team created “Wavy Dave,” an artificial fiddler crab with a robotic claw that could wave back and forth. It was placed in the Ria Formosa Natural Park in the ...

Using a 3D robotic crab, researchers found male fiddler crabs adjust their courtship signals based on the size and behavior of nearby rivals.

The crabs, found in Portugal, were shown waving their claws even when not in front of the robot.

The robot fiddler crab was placed in an area where real male crabs could see and interact with the robot.

Anyone who ever met Wavy Dave and lived to tell the tale—which is, in point of fact, everyone who has ever met Wavy Dave—would tell you about his claw. It was big, that’s for certain, but this was not ...