Thread by @WIRED

Forget snakes on a plane. How about a robot snake in a pool?

Carnegie Mellon roboticists approximated the biomechanics of a serpent—then loaded the thing with propellers. The result is a bot the US Navy might use to inspect ships and submarines 1/ wired.trib.al/csEMNB7

Unlike a sea snake, which uses its whole sinuous body to swim, this robot uses modular pieces of itself to maneuver. Its aft thruster produces forward movement while its lateral thrusters offer stability control. Also unlike a sea snake, it has a camera on its face 2/

At the moment, the robot’s swimming isn’t particularly sophisticated, but the team’s idea is to refine the algorithms that control its movement by using machine learning: By building a digital version of the robot in simulation, an AI can try many ways of swimming 3/

Through trial and error, it will land on the most efficient kind of locomotion. Since the robot is modular, the team can swap in more thrusters to make the machine more powerful, or remove thrusters to help it fit into smaller spaces 4/

If you're watching these GIFs and thinking: What self-respecting robot still has a tether in 2021? In this case, it’s actually a design choice. It’s both a communications link and a kind of leash. If there’s ever a problem, the snake can be pulled back onboard 5/

To review:
Butt-thrusters ✅
Modular ✅
Camera face ✅

Your move, evolution 6/ wired.trib.al/csEMNB7

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