Mr Campbell (20) is working with a team of scientists from the zoology department who are studying the intricate and efficient way spiders move, and using that information to create tiny robots - a general area of research that has drawn the attention of the US space agency, Nasa.
The team is using "bristlebots" - robots made from toothbrushes, nailbrushes, dish brushes and scrubbing brushes - to develop and test tiny electronic sensors and "brains".
The team has already built micro-bristlebots that run towards the nearest dark space when light shines on them.
Mr Campbell's role is to take the technology a step further and try to design an electronic neuron (nerve cell) and artificial spider's leg which might eventually be incorporated into smarter, more responsive robots.
He is one of 400 Otago students and 1600 nationally who have gained summer research scholarships under a new scheme funded jointly by universities and the Government.
The 10 weeks' work - and the $5000 wage which goes with it - were welcome, he said this week.
Originally from Wanganui, Mr Campbell has just completed his second year of a bachelor of science degree majoring in neuroscience, studying nerve cells in the brain which control the movements and actions of living beings.
The research scholarship enabled him to combine his love of neuroscience with his love of electronics, he said.
"I love it. I can easily sit here for eight or nine hours a day."
Mr Campbell's supervisor, Assoc Prof Mike Paulin, has spent several years analysing and re-creating the sensory system's natural movements of spiders and other creatures, using computer modelling.
Spiders were fascinating because they were were small and agile, and, even though they had a brain smaller than a pinhead, they could control their eight legs speedily and gracefully.
They also had another advantage over other animals - hydraulic fluid reservoirs enabling them to collapse or extend their bodies and legs when required.
The potential uses for spider robots were vast, Prof Paulin said.
"This research relates to how all animals move, including humans. Spider robots, being small and agile, could move in trees, caves and confined spaces. They could be used for search and surveillance."
Prof Paulin is also working with Nasa scientists on designing sensors and movement controllers for space exploration robots.
