HUMRS during its March 2021 underwater demonstration. PHOTO SOURCE: Carnegie Mellon University
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) have developed a submersible, snakelike robot that could be used to inspect ships and underwater infrastructure, including offshore rigs and pipelines.
Last month a team from the Biorobotics Lab in the university’s School of Computer Science’s Robotics Institute tested the modular reptilian robot – formally known as the Hardened Underwater Modular Robot Snake (HUMRS) – in Carnegie Mellon’s swimming pool. According to a written statement from the university, the demonstration showcased HUMRS’ ease of control and ability to dive through underwater hoops and swim smoothly and precisely
Geeky Gadgets
11:59 am
A research team at Carnegie Mellon has pushed the development of the previously unveiled robot snake underwater, making it capable of swimming fully submerged. The team from the Biorobotics Lab in the School of Computer Science’s Robotics Institute started working on the underwater robot snake in July 2020 and by March 2021, had developed and built a swimming prototype.
“The robot’s modular design allows it to adapt to different tasks, whether squeezing through tight spaces under rubble, climbing up a tree or slithering around a corner underwater. For the underwater robot snake, the team used existing watertight modules that allow the robot to operate in bad conditions. They then added new modules containing the turbines and thrusters needed to maneuver the robot underwater.”
Biorobotics Lab builds submersible robot snake
Carnegie Mellon University’s acclaimed snake-like robot can now slither its way underwater, allowing the modular robotics platform to inspect ships, submarines and infrastructure for damage.
A team from the Biorobotics Lab in the School of Computer Science’s Robotics Institute tested the Hardened Underwater Modular Robot Snake (HUMRS) last month in the university’s pool, diving the robot through underwater hoops, showing off its precise and smooth swimming, and demonstrating its ease of control.
“We can go places that other robots cannot,” said Howie Choset, the Kavčić-Moura Professor of Computer Science. “It can snake around and squeeze into hard-to-reach underwater spaces.”