So far, Dr Laschi's robot is not so much an octopus as a monopus, but she plans to correct this over the next two years by adding seven more arms and a control system that can co-ordinate them all.
"Because the honey bee brain is smaller and more accessible than any vertebrate brain, we hope to eventually be able to produce an accurate and complete model that we can test within a flying robot, " said Dr Marshall.
Dr Stevens's technique works by employing a robot to create and handle the droplets in which the crystals grow and thus to do so faster than was previously possible.