Wall- climbing microbots exist.
Applications for spider silk exist (notably a substitute for plastic which combines the spider silk with cellulose).
Roombas can't reach those high corners.
The same base station where the bots recharged could include a facility where they packaged up and accumulated their retrieved spider silk. After, say, a year, they might have enough to justify sending a packet in the post.-- pertinax, Apr 17 2021 Very sensible proposal.-- pocmloc, Apr 17 2021 Sorry - won't happen again.-- pertinax, Apr 17 2021 [=] like it, but is there an untangling conditioner for silky balls?-- wjt, Apr 20 2021 I'm not sure whether balls are the way forward. Some study would have to be made of how spiders recycle their own webs by eating them. Also, I haven't decided whether or how the stickier spiral thread (in an orb web) would be detached from the radial threads at the time of collection. If that did happen, then the radial threads could be spooled in a relatively uncomplicated way.-- pertinax, Apr 20 2021 Some un-fixatives could easily be applied on harvesting, solutions to wash the sticky connection apart. Although, it might be a molecular weld by the spider hence no dismantling/editing of webs. It's a strand crossing a strand so not a knot, unless the spider does something unseen.-- wjt, Apr 20 2021 //no dismantling/editing of webs//
Since, as I mentioned, it's normal for spiders to eat their own webs, dismantling must be possible - I don't suppose they swallow them whole like a greedy cartoon character sucking up a bowl of spaghetti.-- pertinax, Apr 22 2021 If eating is dismantling, I'll un-weave my hat.-- wjt, Apr 25 2021 ... presumably because that would be easier than swallowing it whole.-- pertinax, Apr 26 2021 Ah, so the gut washes away the silk glue protein and the spider regurgitates the free stands ready for repositioning. Now I would consider that a form of dismantling. Digestion not so much, more raw material recycling.-- wjt, Apr 26 2021 random, halfbakery