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]

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

Re:snakes eat rats

[tmarklund]

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

Re:

[Yvan256]

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

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[RulerOf]

Nope. The robotic rednecks with laser shotguns should take care of that.

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[hax0r_this]

Anybody remember that song from like preschool, "I know an old lady who swallowed a fly?". If you go making the snake swallow rats, next you'll have to make robotic cats.

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[Kamineko]

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

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[billstewart]

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

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[Zerth]

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

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[dintech]

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

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[I cant believe its n]

We use these babies to clean the intertubes for a few dollars per mile.

"...an Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday, I got it yesterday [Tuesday]. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially." - Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska

Re:snakes eat rats

[Yvanhoe]

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

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[Yvan256]

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

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[cryptodan]

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

Haha, nice transformers reference.

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[antdude]

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

The toilet...

[tankadin]

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?

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[maxume]

FOX Mondays.

Pigs Begat Snakes

[pipingguy]

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]

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.

Re:

[danbert8]

I'm perfectly happy with my smart PIGs thank you very much.

planes!

[tomblag]

Robot snakes on a plane?

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[iamapizza]

Samuel L Jackson could still take them on. Though he may get tired after a while.

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[compro01]

Robot snakes on every plane!

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[jeepien]

Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking robot snakes on these motherfucking robot planes!

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

[niceone]

on a plane.

Snakes...

[seandiggity]

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

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

Re:

[Tege]

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]

Mind you, moose bites kan be pretty nasty.

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[I cant believe its n]

Mind you, moose bites kan be pretty nasty.

"Nasty...", said Bill.
"... was the word" said Bull.

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[olehenning]

Well they won't bite if they're trained by YUTTE HERMSGERVÃRDENBRÃTBÃRDA.

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[Flip-Chip]

"Scandinavians long for warmer weather"

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

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[Urkki]

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]

Hey, you forgot about the parrots!

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[billstewart]

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

Re:Snakes...

[dintech]

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

Re:

[bob.appleyard]

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

Bad Ass Snakes!

[TheRagingTowel]

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

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[aeson25]

While on the subject of CMU snake robots, check out this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn2Pb_Kh8Pk [youtube.com]

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[R_Growler]

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

Not to mention awfully similar to this [slashdot.org].

-RG.

Damn robotic snakes!

[LS]

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

Who else thought...

[Anonymous Coward]

...hey, they named a city after that planet from Speaker for the Dead!

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

[iwein]

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.

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[statemachine]

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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[Hal_Porter]

Maybe the submitter is Swedish.

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[Shinobi]

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

Just wait...

[OpenSourced]

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."

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[KaizerttheBjorn]

And then the government will be designing robotic snakes to put in our navels, in order to track us. "You're going to help us, whether you want to or not."

Would those snakes be running...

[cephah]

Python?

Re:Would those snakes be running...

[rabiddeity]

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

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[aproposofwhat]

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

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[Archangel Michael]

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

CMU did this a whole while back...

[ulash]

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]

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

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[Mithras6691]

Here's an updated page from the NREC [cmu.edu]. It looks like this project has gone into production.

Hmm...

[Futile Rhetoric]

So next they'll have to design a robotic mongoose to clean out the robotic snake pipe cleaners when they malfunction and clog up the pipes.

Snakes

[dark42]

"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."

Kind of like the ones on airplanes?

Not new

[egilhh]

This is not new, actuaclly...

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

I misread...

[ArAgost]

I misread "Scandivian dentists designing robotic snakes". It made very little sense.

Damn Marketspeak

[Icarium]

I hate it when stories like these refer to thier products as "intelligent". Unless they're claiming to have developed AI, it's just plain inaccurate.

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[Lyrael]

You know, I clicked on this article expecting to see many rants about this from the /. hive mind. I was disappointed. :(

Dethklok was right...

[cerberusss]

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

Robotic snakes eh

[SheepLauncher]

I can see another movie coming.... turbo robotic snakes on a plane of course with half of it written by morons on the internet creating lines with excessive swears.

Might put some people out of work

[value_added]

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]

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

Death from the sewers

[dugeen]

Imagine the terror police getting hold of this idea. You'd get these things coming up through your plumbing to kill you.

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[WingedHorse]

All robots aren't the same just because they have a common snakey look. The difference here is that movement method is entirely different.

The inevitable Hollywood blockbuster...

[Attila the Bun]

..."Snakes in a Drain"

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[elrous0]

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.

What happens if the snake dies?

[MessyBlob]

Having a dead snake cluttering up a critical pipe would be no fun! Send in another snake! :o)

I must be strong

[hyades1]

No! I will not do it! I WILL NOT DO IT!!! Somehow, some way, I shall find the moral strength not to succumb.

I WILL NOT denigrate this incredible technology with a cheap, sleazy joke about Pr0n v2.0.

Snakes on Wheels?

[MRe_nl]

from TA "With 10 to 11 joints, each with a corresponding set of plastic wheels".

Xerox PARC was first again

[Larsrc]

Already back in 2000, Xerox PARC had a modular robot prototype that could reconfigure itself into various shapes, like a wheel, a spider, or indeed a snake for narrow places. It was wicked cool, and as usual Xerox has failed to profit from it.

-Lars

Spider bots?

[moderators_are_w*nke]

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]

I can see the sequel now

I for one...

[rodney dill]

...Welcome our new roto-rooter overlords

If I were Dr Evil ...

[gogebic]

If I were Dr Evil (gratuitous wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr_Evil [wikipedia.org]), I would immediately invest 50% of my net worth into robotic snake research.

I would not rest until every man, woman, and child were at constant risk from robot-snake-carried explosives, lasers, poisons, and clenching razor-sharp titanium jaws.

Robotic snakes not just on *a* plane, but on *every* plane.

What an indescribably beautiful day for technology.

They'll never top this, never.

Finally!

[Enoxice]

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

Oblig.

[SilentBob0727]

Why did it have to be snakes??

They're not snakes..

[semiriot]

They prefer to be called cybermats.

This company has nothing to show, others do.

[Jtheletter]

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

Re:

[Jtheletter]

In other news I'm building a fully self-aware AI. I might have a prototype to test at the end of the year, where's my front page link?

No your not...

It's called sarcasm idiot, go look it up.

One step closer...

[c0ck_l0rge]

To full-on, real-life tentacle s3x!! Ingenuity like this brings a tear to my eye...

Real uses.

[jrsjrsjrs]

All kidding aside, these could be a huge breakthrough. We (those with indoor plumbing) lose 40% of our water supply to exfiltration. Sewage treatment plants are at capacity and routinely suffer from cross-connects and infiltration. For civil and chemical processes, these devices promise lower costs, increased service-life and decreased pollution

ride the snake

[one-eye-johnson]

This will be marketed as a sex toy within the decade. Gotta file a patent on autonomous robotic lovers...

This is OLD news. Actually one year to the day!

[akaiONE]

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

Where do you get one?

[ajft]

Do they sell them at Ikea with a cool unpronounceable name?

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[supernova_hq]

Another reason that we need a "-1 Too much information" mod!

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[Dogtanian]

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.