Researchers develop robot snake to advance search and rescue technology
The team plans to continue working on and improving their robot.
Reuters - A robot snake developed at John Hopkins University could help advance search and rescue technology.
Assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University, Chen Li and his team merged fields of engineering, physics and biology to study movements made by snakes to help build their project.
The team of engineers built their robot snake after studying the motions and movements of the nonvenomous Variable Kingsnake in their Terradynamics Lab. Each test would be filmed, helping them to monitor how snakes contorted their bodies in response to different barriers.
During the experiments with the Kingsnake and robot snake, the height of the steps and the surface friction would be changed.
Li and his team noted that previous studies had focused on snake movements across flat surfaces and rarely examined movements of snakes over rough terrain with obstacles that could be faced by a search and rescue robot.
Research found that the snake robot built by Li was speedier and more stable that most previous studies, however due to the structure of the body suspension his robot required more electricity.
The team plans to continue working on and improving their robot, testing it on more complex 3D terrains with large obstacles.
