Students in Southeast University have successfully invented a snake-like robot through two-years’ effort, which can operate in complicated terrain of all kinds on survey, search and rescue tasks.
The one-metre long SnakeBot is made out of 16 joints and has no wheels. However, it is able to twist and flex, crawling forward, backward and to the left or right.
When encountering obstacles, most robots shall attempt bypass them, but the snake-like robot can simply go over them. It has an ability to change its physical shape according to topographical changes, making itself very practical in harsh and complicated geographical environments.
At present, the biggest problem in the development of the snake-like robot is its power supply; it presently drags around a long cable. To realize functions of three-dimensional obstacle-overcoming for a long period such as climbing trees, an independent power supply shall next be developed.
