Snake Robots from Carnegie Mellon

The AP has an interesting piece on Carnegie Mellon's snake robots. The research, lead by Howie Choset, is aimed at disaster situations where a small snake could maneuver much better than a resuce worker.

"Right now, the way to get to these trapped survivors is to pull the rubble out one rock at a time," Choset said. "So our dream is to have the snake robot thread through this collapsed rubble and get to victims more quickly."

The robots are semi-autonomous, and are remotely guided by a radio controller. They are controlled with servo motors and battery powered. The Snake's website, shows video of them crawling in a sinusoidal motion, rolling, swimming, and crawling through pipes.

Unfortunately, Choset says the robots wont be ready for prime-time for another 5 to 10 years.

Another prominant snakebot builder is Dr. Gavin Miller. You'll also want to check out this amazing amphibious snakebot from Japan.

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Snake Robots from Carnegie Mellon

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