Snakes on an Inclined Plane

[n2doc]

Mechanical engineers study snakes' sophisticated frictional properties to build more nimble rescue robots.

Feb 28, 2012

By Ben P. Stein
Inside Science News Service

BOSTON (ISNS) -- Snakes! Love them or hate them, everyone can agree they are superb at sliding over complex terrain. Learning the slithery reptiles' tricks can provide valuable tips for designing rescue robots to help locate survivors trapped in rubble after a major disaster strikes.

Studying movies of the snakes in action, mechanical engineers have applied the way that the animals use friction to build robots that are better able to climb and hold on to surfaces.

Hamid Marvi, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, definitely falls into the "love snakes" camp. "[Snakes are] very cute and very easy to work with," Marvi said.

Marvi and his colleagues have designed snake-inspired robots by studying live snakes. Snakes cannot move without friction. When snakes are placed on a very smooth surface, with little friction, they slither wildly but cannot get anywhere.

more

http://www.insidescience.org/news-service/1-2530

[valerief]

1. So snakes are kinda like talk show hosts, who also need friction to progress. nt

[Cirque du So-What]

2. DUzy

and one helluva astute observation.

[valerief]

4. Ha! nt

[NV Whino]

3. That would have to be M****r F*****g Snakes on an Inclined Plane.