Robotic Snakes Will Hug (Strangle) Whatever They’re Thrown Against
Surrounded by Louisiana wetlands, I’ve seen my fair share of snakes. Without a textbook knowledge of what’s what, I just keep a cool head and haul ass unassumingly, so that the experience is no longer the pants-shitting experience it is for some people. However, a snake that is also a questionably malevolent robot is not something I’m used to.
The geniuses at Carnegie Mellon University have been terrorizing robotic mice for years with their slithering metal reptiles, but they’ve recently showcased a video for what they call “perching,” though it is essentially grasping onto whatever it is thrown against, much like a python around an enemy predator, or a robotic snake around an innocent person’s throat. Check out the video below and accept the fact that slap bracelets have been harbingers of doom all along.
Yeah, maybe nobody should be calling emergency services just yet, but what’s more frightening? That this technology exists or that it seems like something one might assume has existed for years, just beyond the knowledge of our unsuspecting necks?
This soon-to-be-a-Batman-gadget, as you might have guessed, is being developed for search and rescue purposes, and aren’t the Robotic Boston Stranglers of Tomorrow. They’re meant to reach hard-to-access places, and will probably be used to discover some really cool shit as soon as someone slaps some digger claws to the front of it. (+2 cool points for using “digger claws” in a story.)
The following videos will explain the robot snake’s movement capabilities a year ago, and will then induce brain nausea as you watch it climb a pole and track movement. I don’t know if these robotic snakes can take on a Yeti just yet, but I’m betting Syfy will show me in a few years. Also, expect a resurgence in the game of Horseshoes.
