ACM-R5 amphibious robosnake

Sure we've seen remote-controlled robotic snakes before, and pretty slithery ones at that, but the Japanese have managed to wow us once again with the amphibious ACM-R5 snakebot that takes mechanized snakery to a new level. Looking somewhat like one of the creepy alien tentacles in Steven Spielberg Presents Tom Cruise in H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, the ACM-R5 sports the obligatory snout-cam, and one-ups the OmniTread that we spotted last year by slithering rather naturally underwater, along with the crawling, climbing, and logrolling expected from robotic serpents these days. The eight-kilogram reptile is powered by a 30-minute lithium ion battery, during which time the remote operator sets its general direction while sensors feeding a 32-bit microprocessor guide the actual underwater acrobatics and terra firma terrain negotiation. Like most technology, this will initially be used in a humanitarian capacity to help locate victims of earthquakes and other disasters, but we're sure that it won't be long before the versatile bot gets weaponized, strapped with a few bombs, and enlisted in the war on terror. Follow the via link for a rather amusing vid of the ACM-R5 in action, complete with enthusiastic play-by-play by the clearly-impressed commentators...

[Via TechEBlog]

[retsel @ Mar 13th 2006 9:02PM]

Looking at the vid... i remember on thing... girls love the one eyed snake...

[DT @ Mar 13th 2006 9:13PM]

Google translate is useless. Latin languages I can make out, but not Japanese. Any direct links to the vid?

[Charlie @ Mar 13th 2006 9:38PM]

Very cool. I remember seeing something like this being developed on a NOVA program with regards to chaos activities in insects.

[GoRobotics.net @ Mar 13th 2006 9:55PM]

I've posted a rough translation on my website, GoRobotics.net courtesy of Lem at Robots-Dreams.com.

[GoRobotics.net @ Mar 13th 2006 10:01PM]

doh! And I failed to provide adequate links.
Translation:
http://www.gorobotics.net/The-News/Latest-News/Snake%11Like-Robot-Can-Crawl-on-Land-or-Swim/

Robots-Dreams:
http://www.robots-dreams.com/

[Bram Vanderborght @ Mar 14th 2006 3:37AM]

A movie of this nice swimming robot (http://lucy.vub.ac.be/aichi/snake_robot.MOV) from the website http://lucy.vub.ac.be/diary_aichi1.htm

[Neil @ Mar 14th 2006 5:11AM]

I can see this being a bad idea. Next thing you know robot snakes will take over.

[Sarah Brabazon-Biggar @ Mar 14th 2006 5:37AM]

Robot snakes on a plane!

[blackOPStoys @ Mar 14th 2006 11:21AM]

I for one, welcome our new robotic Snake......oh, I forgot that this isn't Slashdot.

[robert @ Nov 2nd 2007 11:57AM]

i want one anyone know price in £