A sidewinder rattlesnake robot is pictured in this undated handout photo provided by Chaohui Gong.
Credit: Reuters/Chaohui Gong/Handout via Reuters
Posted on 10/09/2014 2:45:17 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Researchers on Thursday said they conducted experiments to learn precisely how sidewinder rattlesnakes are able to climb sandy hills, then applied the reptiles' repertoire to an existing snake robot so it could do the same thing.
The study, published in the journal Science, is an example of how scientists are applying knowledge of biology to improve technology.
Snake-like robots, rather than robots that move on wheels, offer unique capabilities for such complicated tasks as search-and-rescue operations in collapsed structures and inspecting nuclear power plants, the researchers said.
"The snake robot can thread through tightly packed space to access locations that people and conventional machinery cannot," said robotics professor Howie Choset of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Credit: Reuters/Chaohui Gong/Handout via Reuters
A woman who sold baby rattlers to a clothing craftswoman in CO as a child, for 10 to 20¢ ea, told me if you see one, watch out, they don’t come just in pairs but in the 1,000s.
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