Snake Robots Deployed in Nuclear Power Plant

Tests of a modular snake robot in an Austrian nuclear power plant proved the multi-jointed, camera-headed robot can crawl through a variety of steam pipes and connecting vessels, suggesting it could be a valuable inspection tool, report researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute.

The snake robot was able to maneuver through multiple bends, slip through open valves and negotiate vessels with multiple openings. With a videocamera and LED light on its head, the snake was able to peer into holes and to get multiple views of items of interest inside the pipes.

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Boston Dynamics Webinar - Why Humanoids Are the Future of Manufacturing

Boston Dynamics Webinar - Why Humanoids Are the Future of Manufacturing

Join us November 18th for this Webinar as we reflect on what we've learned by observing factory floors, and why we've grown convinced that chasing generalization in manipulation—both in hardware and behavior—isn't just interesting, but necessary. We'll discuss AI research threads we're exploring at Boston Dynamics to push this mission forward, and highlight opportunities our field should collectively invest more in to turn the humanoid vision, and the reinvention of manufacturing, into a practical, economically viable product.