Scandinavian Scientists Designing Robotic Snakes

Cowards Anonymous writes "The Sintef Group, a research company based in Trondheim, Norway, announced that it's designing a robot based on snakes. The 1.5-meter long robots, which are made of aluminum, are being designed to inspect and clean complicated industrial pipe systems that are typically narrow and inaccessible to humans. The intelligent robots have multiple joints to enable them to twist vertically and climb up through pipe systems to locate leaks in water systems, inspect oil and gas pipelines and clean ventilation systems."

snakes eat rats

[suck_burners_rice (1258684)]

Then they'll have to design robotic rats too, so the robotic snakes have something to eat.

Re:snakes eat rats

[tmarklund (1030108)]

Then we need robotic mongooses for when the snakes get out of control.

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[Yvan256 (722131)]

But then won't we be stuck with the robotic mongooses?

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[dintech (998802)]

Sick of it? The Scandinavian company Saab also make planes [wikipedia.org].

Re:snakes eat rats

[Yvanhoe (564877)]

And they live on planes, we'll have to design robotic planes too...

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[Yvan256 (722131)]

I'm sure that's just going to be a robot in disguise.

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[antdude (79039)]

So, the planes will have androids that is like Samuel Jackson?

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[Kamineko (851857)]

I still haven't found out the reason why she did that.

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[billstewart (78916)]

The fly flew into her mouth when she was riding her motorcycle without a helmet?

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[Zerth (26112)]

In this age of the internet, the end of that song has such a different meaning...
"She swallowed a horse, she's dead of course"

shamlessly stolen from questionablecontent

The toilet...

[tankadin (1175113)]

Just imagine sitting and having "deep thoughts" and then all of a sudden that robotic snake overlord poking you from under

Where is John Connor when you need him?

Pigs Begat Snakes

[pipingguy (566974)]

More than you ever wanted to know about devices that inspect/clean, etc. the internals of pipes [ppsa-online.com]. These snakes sound like a logical next step. Boring to you, fascinating to me.

Re:Pigs Begat Snakes

[KGIII (973947)]

LOL Not at all uninteresting to me. Actually, I'll take the off-topic hit if required. Have you seen the robots that go down 'em and weld 'em up and then the one that goes behind it and checks the weld? I guess they can do all of that in one single unit now but I had/have a buddy who's job it was to drive a remote control car (basically) up the pipes before and after. Because he's one of the greatest bullshitters of all time I was able to go with him and enjoy a few of the jobs he worked on when he was in my area. It isn't just interesting, it is fascinating to some of us.

planes!

[tomblag (1060876)]

Robot snakes on a plane?

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[compro01 (777531)]

Robot snakes on every plane!

There's got to be some application for these...

[niceone (992278)]

on a plane.

Snakes...

[seandiggity (992657)]

...Why'd it have to be snakes?

I can only assume this is somehow related to another Indiana Jones movie.

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[Tege (687436)]

Because we have very few species of snakes in Scandinavia. In Sweden there are only three species, and none is especially dangerous. Even the snakes think it's too cold up here in the north.

Scandinavians long for warmer weather, palm trees and fierce animals. The most dangerous animals in Sweden are the moose (car accidents) and wasps. Boring.

Re:Snakes...

[Lyrael (1196443)]

Mind you, moose bites kan be pretty nasty.

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[Flip-Chip (1314053)]

"Scandinavians long for warmer weather"

That's why SUVs are gaining popularity in Norway :-D

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[Urkki (668283)]

That's why SUVs are gaining popularity in Norway :-D

Nah, I think it's the other way around. It may be inevitable that the Gulf Stream slows down or turns south or whatever [wikipedia.org]. At that point it'll get cold [wikipedia.org] even in Norway, and glaciers will start flowing down from the Scandic mountains... 4-wheel drive, large tires and decent ground clearance will be essential at that point. And it's better to buy the SUVs now, because if oil price keeps going up, they won't be making SUVs for long... However, Norwegians will have their own oil so it's up to them if they want

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[Enleth (947766)]

Hey, you forgot about the parrots!

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[billstewart (78916)]

The Parrot? He's dead, Jim...

Re:Snakes...

[dintech (998802)]

If you're think of Harrison Ford and robotic snakes, you must be thinking of Blade Runner.

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[bob.appleyard (1030756)]

Blade Jones? Indiana Runner? Indiade Junner? Bladiana Rones?

Bad Ass Snakes!

[TheRagingTowel (724266)]

The summery looks awfully similar to things CMU has already done - see hack a day [hackaday.com]

Damn robotic snakes!

[LS (57954)]

I want these mutha fuckin robotic snakes out these mutha fuckin complicated industrial pipe systems!

I'm sure this is very useful, but it's not new

[iwein (561027)]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/06/robotic-snake-moves-by-pushing-off-obstacles/ [engadget.com] I remember reading an article about a guy designing robotic snakes more than 10 years ago. Hardly surprising that they have found an application for them now.

Just wait...

[OpenSourced (323149)]

In time, they will miniaturize the things a bit more, and use it to inspect our pipes. I can already picture the nurse saying "Now this is not going to hurt a bit, just bend over and I'll insert this tiny little robotic thing (BoaScope TM), and it'll be over in a minute. If you feel it squirming inside you, it's all perfectly normal, dear."

Would those snakes be running...

[cephah (1244770)]

Python?

Re:Would those snakes be running...

[rabiddeity (941737)]

I don't know, but their website runs ASP [sintef.no]

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[aproposofwhat (1019098)]

Well, it'd have to be IronPython for a robotic snake, so the ASP figures :P

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[Archangel Michael (180766)]

Just don't let PETA figure out that they are Hacking Python .. for fun and entertainment!!!!

CMU did this a whole while back...

[ulash (1266140)]

Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute built "robots based on snakes" quite a while back. In fact the project description page [cmu.edu] was last updated in November 2006. You can find more info about the project at, funnily enough, SnakeRobot.com [snakerobot.com] with videos.

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[Dolohov (114209)]

Prof. Hirose's robotics lab [titech.ac.jp] in Japan has some excellent snake robots as well. The swimming one is a must-see.

Not new

[egilhh (689523)]

This is not new, actuaclly...

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/22/1849235 [slashdot.org]

Dethklok was right...

[cerberusss (660701)]

It's gonna take your life tonight
Mechanical reptilian might
Shed it's metal skin and destroy
It's such a better METAL SNAKE

Might put some people out of work

[value_added (719364)]

Mike Rowe, I'm looking at you, buddy.

Seriously, if robots are going to be cleaning narrow and inaccessible pipes, what dirty jobs will be left? Aside from animal husbandry (I don't think even robots want to go there).

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[statemachine (840641)]

Who do you think will clean the robots? Waiting for... Robo-snake technician. It might rival Geoduck farmer.

The inevitable Hollywood blockbuster...

[Attila the Bun (952109)]

..."Snakes in a Drain"

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[elrous0 (869638)]

Destined to be a "Made for the Scifi Channel" classic just as soon as they can sober up Lorenzo Lamas and put together a Bulgarian film crew.

Spider bots?

[moderators_are_w*nke (571920)]

I thought spider bots were used to maintain ventilation systems? Or have I been playing too much Deus Ex?

There's robotic snakes in the UAV

[xlation (228159)]

I can see the sequel now

I for one...

[rodney dill (631059)]

...Welcome our new roto-rooter overlords

Finally!

[Enoxice (993945)]

I can recreate the epic masterpiece of cinematography that was BOA VS PYTHON in the comfort of my own home.

Oblig.

[SilentBob0727 (974090)]

Why did it have to be snakes??

This company has nothing to show, others do.

[Jtheletter (686279)]

This is a total non-event. The company has merely announced they want to build these things, from the article itself: "The company hopes to have a working prototype ready for testing by the end of the year."

So not even a working prototype yet? Why is this front page news? Researchers and companies have been trying to build robotic snakes for years, with varying levels of success. One more company throws its hat in the ring and doesn't even offer anything novel or groundbreaking that would make their desi

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[statemachine (840641)]

From SINTEF's website [sintef.no]:

Locations
SINTEF has approximately 2000 employees, 1300 of which are located in Trondheim and 450 in Oslo. We have offices in Bergen, Stavanger and Ålesund, in addition to offices in Houston, Texas (USA), Skopje (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) and a laboratory in Hirtshals (Denmark). SINTEF's head office is in Trondheim.

Perhaps the submitter didn't want the scientists in Denmark to feel left out?

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[Shinobi (19308)]

That's actually a misconception however. Denmark is incorrectly labelled as part of Scandinavia, even by supposedly reputable sources. Scandinavia is the peninsula named after the mountain range on it, the Scandic mountains. Ever since Sweden kicked Denmark out of their holdings on the peninsula(Including parts of what is now Sweden, and all of Norway), they haven't been part of Scandinavia.

However, it carries a lot of political inertia, especially when people equate the Nordic Countries(Sweden, Denmark, No

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[Dogtanian (588974)]

I notice that this is only your second comment [slashdot.org], and that the first was at the end of 2003(!!)

Can we assume that you *really* spent 4 1/2 years crafting this finely-worded masterpiece? Jesus, talk about matching the braindead racist stereotype, I bet it took you so long because the drool kept shorting out your keyboard.