Nature is a source of inspiration for artists, but also for engineers. New example robotics with a project developed by the Norwegian company SINTEF. Once finalized, the equipment will spend most of his time in the pipeline industry.
That is the goal of this research project: to offer the market an inspection tool that can easily evolve into conduits closest – up to 20 cm in diameter – to the horizontal, the vertical . Hence the idea of snake known for its flexibility and so particular to move.
Several experts reflecting on the project at SINTEF. Specialists in cybernetics work on mobility and compactness of the robot to move unhindered in the pipeline. The first tests are advertised as promising. According to information provided by SINTEF, the robot is able to both climb into a conduit by twisting like a snake and make a U-turn if necessary.
But to know where to go and how to lead, the reptile mechanics also need to see. Here is the domain of another team working on a system of visual sensor. A robot Mind stormier, made by Lego, serves as a guinea pig. The “toy”, equipped with a camera enabled them to test the control of displacement.
The project at SINTEF is not the first of its kind. Two models have previously been developed robots Aiko and Anna Honda. Both incorporate the principle of moving the snake through the use of small hydraulic motors. Both were designed for utilitarian purposes. Anna Honda particular was thought to fight against the fires through an on-board system of water spray.
More generally, in the field of robotics, SINTEF teams are not the only ones to draw on the snake. In Japan, the Institute of Technology from 2005 Tokyo presented a model capable of evolving under water. Last May, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA, also showed their Snakebot. Its designers intending to the missions sightings in the rubble of an earthquake, but in a miniature version, to examine the interior of the human heart.
At SINTEF, it remains focused for now on the industrial application. In its final version – whose release date has yet to be defined – the robot is not longer a big grass snake one meter fifty. Harmless, but still impressive!