Amphibious Robot Snake Is Damn Scary
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Thursday, 17 of July , 2008 at 2:20 am
I’m not generally one to get freaked out by snakes. My best friend (who is coincidentally my pet) is a bigass black snake, in fact. I’m also not generally one to get freaked out by robots (with some exceptions). If I did, I probably wouldn’t have lasted as long as I have in this job. Combine the two, and I’m still good… Or I thought I was, until I saw this thing. Just wait for it to jump in the pool:
Guh. So creepy. ACM-R5 (as it is fetchingly known) moves the same way snakes do, by being slippery only in the direction it wants to go (thanks to wheels on its lateral fins) and undulating its body to push against the ground. The same type of motion works just as well in water, which is great, just great. The control system, at least, is cool in a non-terrifying way:
The control system of ACM-R5 is an advanced one. Each joint unit has CPU, battery, motors, so they can operate independently. Through communication lines each unit exchanges signals and automatically recognizes its number from the head, and how many units join the system. Thanks to this system operators can remove, add, and exchange units freely and they can operate ACM-R5 flexibly according to situations.
Super, so it can get infinitely long and if you destroy one module, another can take its place. That’s brilliant, really it is. Just keep it the hell away from me, mkay?
[ Hirose Fukushima Lab ] VIA [ GeekAlerts ]
Category: Biorobotics, Research
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Comment by Iron Man
Made Thursday, 17 of July , 2008 at 2:30 pm
It works, in my opinion, much better in the water than it did on the ground.
the added factor that any of those could become the head is just crazy.
I want one.
Comment by Martin
Made Tuesday, 22 of July , 2008 at 2:56 am
The movement of this robot-snake are so realistic. Creepy but so cool.