October 09, 2014 03:10pm ETSnake Robots! Slithering Machines Could Aid Search-and-Rescue Efforts

One snake's ability to shimmy up slippery sand dunes could inspire new technologies for robots that could perform search and rescue missions, carry out inspections of hazardous wastes and even explore ancient pyramids.

A new study looked at the North American desert-dwelling sidewinder rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes), a creature better known for its venomous bite than its graceful movements. But this snake can climb up sandy slopes without sliding back down to the bottom — a feat that few snake species can accomplish.

Snakelike, or limbless, robots are intriguing to scientists for several reasons. First, their lack of legs, wheels or tracks means they don't often get stuck in ruts or held up by bumps in their path. They could also be used to access areas that other bots can't get to, or to explore places that aren't safe for humans. [Biomimicry: 7 Clever Technologies Inspired by Nature]

The sidewinder shimmy

To get a closer look at their live study subjects, the researchers headed to Zoo Atlanta, where they were able to examine six sidewinder rattlesnakes. They tested the snakes on a specially designed inclined table covered with loosely packed sand.

Fifty-four trials were conducted, with each of the six snakes slithering up the sandy table nine times, three times each at varying degrees of steepness. As the snakes worked their way up the makeshift sand dune, high-speed cameras tracked their movements, taking note of exactly where their bodies came into contact with the sand as they moved upward.

The researchers found that sidewinder snakes live up to their name. The slithery creatures moved up the sandy incline in a sideways motion, with their heads pointing toward the top of the incline and the rest of their bodies moving horizontally up the slope. The researchers then looked more carefully at how sidewinders carry out these complex movements.

"The snakes tended to increase the amount of body in contact with the surface at any instant in time when they were sidewinding up the slope and the incline angle increased," said Daniel Goldman, co-author of the study and an associate professor of biomechanics at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Specifically, the snakes doubled the amount of their bodies touching the sand when navigating the slope, he added.

The Carnegie Mellon snake robot has finally mastered the art of slithering up a sandy slope.Credit: Nico Zevallos and Chaohui GongView full size image

And the parts of the snake's body that were touching the sand during the ascent never slipped back down the slope because the creature applied the right amount of force in its movements, keeping the sand under it from sliding, Goldman told Live Science.

Snake robots

To put their newfound understanding of sidewinding to good use, Goldman and his colleagues got in touch with Howie Choset, a professor at The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Choset, who has been developing limbless robots for years, already developed a snakelike bot that performs well both in the lab and in real-life situations. However, his slithering machine has run into one particular problem during field tests.

"These guys have been making a robot sidewind for years over a wide diversity of substrates, but they had a lot of trouble on sandy slopes," Goldman said.

To get the robot moving over sandy dunes, the researchers applied what they now know about the sidewinding rattlesnake's patterns of movement. They programmed the robot so that more of its body would come into contact with the ground as it slides up the slope. They also applied what they had learned about force, which enables the robot to move its weight in such a way that it keeps moving upward over the sand without rolling back down the slope.

Now that Choset's snake robot can move over tough terrain, it'll be better equipped to handle the tasks that it was built to tackle.

"Since these robots have a narrow cross section and they're relatively smooth, they can fit into places that people and machinery can't otherwise access," Choset told Live Science.

For example, these limbless robots could be used during search-and-rescue missions, since the slithery machines can crawl into a collapsed building and search for people trapped inside without disturbing the compromised structure. The snake bot could also be sent into containers that may hold dangerous substances, such as nuclear waste, to take samples and report back to hazmat specialists.

Choset also said these robotic sidewinding abilities could come in handy on archaeological sites. For instance, the robots could one day be used to explore the insides of pyramids or tombs, he said.

The research represents a key collaboration between biologists and roboticists, said Auke Ijspeert, head of the Biorobotics Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne (EPFL), who was not involved in the new study.

"I think it’s a very exciting project which managed to contribute to the two objectives of biorobotics," Ijspeert told Live Science.

"On one hand, they took inspiration from biology to design better control methods for the robot," Ijspeert said. "By looking at how sidewinding takes place in a snake, especially with slopes, they found out the strategy that the animal uses and, when they tested it on the robot, it could really improve the climbing capabilities of the robot."

The researchers also achieved the second goal of biorobotics, he said, which is to use a robot as a scientific tool. By testing the different speeds at which the robotic snake could successfully climb up the sand, the researchers were able to pinpoint exactly how fast real snakes make their way up these slippery slopes.

"It's a nice example of how robots can help in biology and how biology can help in robotics."

The study was published online today (Oct. 9) in the journal Science.

Follow Elizabeth Palermo @techEpalermo. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

机器蛇！滑行机能够为搜索和救援工作提供帮助

Snake机器人！冰虫机能够帮助搜寻和救援Efforts来舞动起来滑溜的沙丘可以激发机器人，可以执行搜索和救援任务，开展危险废物的检查，甚至探讨了古代金字塔.

新技术

一蛇的能力新研究调查了北美沙漠中居住的响尾蛇响尾蛇（响尾蛇cerastes），一个生物的毒蛇咬除其优美的动作更广为人知。但是，这条蛇可以爬上沙滩斜坡无滑动回落至底部＆mdash;一个壮举，一些蛇种可以完成.

蛇形，或截肢，机器人是耐人寻味的科学家有几个原因。首先，他们缺乏腿，车轮或履带意味着他们不经常陷在车辙或在他们的道路颠簸举起。它们也可以用来访问其他机器人不能得到，或探索所没有对人类安全的地方区域。 [仿生学：灵感来自于大自然7巧妙技术Biomimicry: 7 Clever Technologies Inspired by Nature他们测试了蛇上的特殊设计的倾斜表覆盖有松散填充砂.

五十四个试验进行的，与每个6蛇滑行向上沙质表9次，每三次在不同程度的陡度的。由于蛇的工作自己的方式临时搭建的沙丘，高速摄像机跟踪他们的行踪，同时正好记下他们的身体来到同沙接触，因为他们向上移动.

研究人员发现，响尾蛇蛇辜负他们的名称。在滑溜的动物搬到了沙滩倾斜的侧向运动，与他们的头指向斜面的顶部和自己的身体的其余部分水平移动了斜坡。然后，研究人员看起来更仔细地响尾蛇导弹如何实现这些复杂的动作.

u0026 QUOT;蛇倾向于增加在任何时刻与表面接触量体时，他们的斜率和倾斜角sidewinding了增加，＆QUOT;丹尼尔说，高盛，共同作者的研究和生物力学在佐治亚技术研究所在亚特兰大副教授。特别是，蛇一倍他们的尸体导航斜坡时接触砂量，他补充道

卡内基梅隆蛇形机器人终于掌握了滑行沙滩slope.Credit的艺术：尼科Zevallos和朝辉GongView原图

和蛇的身体上升过程中进行了接触沙的部分永远不会溜背下坡，因为动物施加的力适量在其运动，滑动保持其下的沙子，高盛告诉现场科学.

蛇机器人

为了把sidewinding他们新发现的理解，很好的利用，高盛和他的同事在与豪伊Choset，在该机器人研究所教授，卡内基 - 梅隆大学取得了联系。 Choset，谁一直在开发截肢机器人多年，已经开发出一种蛇形机器人，无论在实验室和在现实生活中的情况下表现良好。然而，他的滑行机已在现场测试.

运行到一个特定的问题，这些人一直在机器人sidewind多年来在基板的千差万别，但他们有很多的沙地斜坡麻烦，;高盛表示，.

为了让机器人动过沙丘，研究人员运用他们现在知道运动的sidewinding响尾蛇的图案是什么。它们编程的机器人，使更多的身体会来与地面接触，因为它向上滑动的斜率。他们还采用了他们所了解到的力量，它使机器人移动其重量的这样一种方式，它一直向上移动了??沙没有回滚下坡.

现在Choset的蛇形机器人可以艰难的地形上移动，它会更好地处理，它的建立是为了解决.

的任务，因为这些机器人有一个狭窄的横截面，他们是相对平稳的，他们可以适应的地方，人们和机器无法以其他方式获得; Choset告诉现场科学.

例如，这些截肢机器人可能在搜索和救援任务中使用，因为滑溜的机器可以爬进一个倒塌的楼房和搜索人员被困在里面，而不会干扰破坏结构。蛇机器人也可以发送到容器中可容纳危险物质，如核废料，取样品并返回到危险品专家.

报告

Choset还表示，这些机器人sidewinding能力可以派上用场的考古遗址。例如，机器人可以有一天会被用于探索金字塔或陵墓的内部，他说.

研究代表了生物学家和机器人专家之间的一个关键的合作，说奥克Ijspeert的生物机器人实验室负责人的瑞士联邦理工学院技术在洛桑（EPFL），并没有参与这项新研究谁.

u0026 QUOT;我认为这和rsquo的;萨其管理，以促进生物机器人的两个目标，＆QUOT非常令人兴奋的项目; Ijspeert告诉现场科学.

一方面，他们采取的灵感来自生物学设计出更好的控制方法，为机器人，; Ijspeert说。通过着眼于如何sidewinding发生在一条蛇，尤其是在山坡上，他们发现了动物的使用和，当他们测试了机器人，才可能真正提高机器人的攀爬能力的战略和;。

研究人员还实现了生物机器人的第二个进球，他说，这是使用机器人作为一个科学工具。通过测试不同的速度在该机器人蛇能不能成功地爬上沙滩，研究人员能够确定真正的蛇究竟是如何快速让自己的方式这些湿滑的斜坡.

它是如何机器人可以帮助一个很好的例子生物学和生物怎么能够在机器人帮助