Snakebots

Just when you thought humanoid robots were getting creepy enough, here come a brand new creepy robot: a robot snake.

Carnegie Mellon University Roboticist Howie Choset and his team weren't inspired by human architecture when they designed their robot.

“A lot of people have this notion that robots are modeled after people,” says Choset, of in Pittsburgh. But “if you have to cross a field, swim a moat, burrow through a little hole in a fence and climb a pole, there’s no other robot that can do all those things,” he said of his serpentine machine.

The intent is for this device to be useful in building collapses and fires, where it's too dangerous for people and too difficult for larger robots to investigate.

Here's a link to the original article on Science News. Hopefully the snakebots won't end up on a plane.