Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Science

pokerfan

(27,677 posts) Sun Jul 15, 2012, 02:15 AM Jul 2012

Robot snakes

This clip demonstrates recent work to develop compliant controllers for our lab's snake robots. These controllers allow the robot to automatically adapt its shape to changes in its environment. Until now most of our motions, including pole climbing, have been remote-controlled.

In this video the robot autonomously climbs a 4" pole, transitions to a 2" pole, and then to an arm, demonstrating that the controller is able to adapt to different diameters of objects without exerting too much force for to be uncomfortable in human contact.