This autonomous underwater snake robot was developed in a collaboration between Kongsberg, the petroleum company Statoil, and Eelume -- a spin-off company from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
(Swimming snake robot video)
The reptilian robot will live permanently on the seabed to monitor underwater equipment and perform maintenance task.
The team conducted research on snakelike robots for more than 10 years to perfect the design.
"Now we take the step from academia and into the commercial world to secure our place in the new and exciting subsea intervention landscape," Pål Liljebäck, Eelume CTO, said in a press release.
The robot will carry out work like adjusting valves, for instance, which are hard to reach for humans.
These swimming snake-like robot terminators from the film Terminator Salvation are remarkably similar - especially the creepy part..
Humanoid Robots Building Humanoid Robots
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'' - Isaac Asimov (1940)
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Humanoid Robots Building Humanoid Robots
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?''