Ed Yong describes a fascinating example of how biomimetics can give us new insights into both biology and technology.
The serpentine robot ... was designed to explore spaces that humans cannot. She can slide over rough terrain, slink through tight cracks, and manoeuvre around rubble. During her Egyptian field test, she performed beautifully, with one major exception: When the team tried to drive her up sandy slopes, she slipped and slid.
Real snakes face the same problem, and many desert-dwelling species have solved it through a bizarre technique called sidewinding. It’s a very counter-intuitive style of movement. From above, it looks like the snake is travelling sideways in a beautiful undulating wave. But it leaves behind a series of straight tracks, each the length of its body.
(Score: 2) by MrGuy on Friday October 10 2014, @05:10PM
...welcome our new robotic snake cave-dwelling overlords.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 10 2014, @06:23PM
A serpentine robot design that took its inspiration from snakes. What will they think of next?
(Score: 1) by Gobo on Saturday October 11 2014, @09:07AM
Since when do robots have a gender? Even if we were to use gender specific pronouns, why would we go for female?
(I do not buy into the "positive discrimination" argument.)