It is nested in a trash barrel, and it builds up quite a rooster tail in the water behind it as it spins. The digital technology is atop the sphere, where a sensor sends out sonar pings to detect objects ahead. Later, we'll be able to turn the spider, to move it in different directions. The kids were proponents of sound and lights. R2D2 speaks in beeps and lights.
Communication is down the road for the arachnids.
Tomorrow their movement will be their forte. The performance, from 1 to 5 p.m., is called ''Dance of the Water Spiders,'' a random choreography to an original composition by Ernesto Klar. The spiders won't be the only performers. Robotics Art Club members, wearing white lab coats, will assemble and monitor the spiders. The fact is, we can almost do that.