207. Meet The Life-saving Snake Robot

The Next Byte Podcast · 21 Jan 2025 · 18m

What this episode covers

The hosts discuss Roboa, an expandable pneumatic snake robot developed by the Autonomous Laboratory at ETH Zurich for search and rescue and industrial inspection. They detail its soft, fabric-based design that expands up to 100 meters using compressed air, allowing it to navigate tight rubble spaces without sparking, making it safe for natural gas pipelines. The team is now commercializing the technology, which can deliver supplies to trapped victims and perform non-destructive inspections.

Mentioned

Companies
ETH Zurich, Mouser Electronics, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, NASA JPL
Products
Roboa, Da Vinci

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Robot Report Podcast · 1h 07m

    ANYbotics ANYmal quadruped with Enzo Wälchli

    Enzo Wälchli, Chief Commercial Officer at ANYbotics, discusses the commercialization and North American expansion of the ANYmal quadruped robot, an explosion-proof inspection platform spun out of ETH Zurich. Wälchli explains how the robot’s ATEX certification and autonomous capabilities allow it to operate safely in hazardous oil, gas, and chemical environments, performing predictive maintenance tasks like thermal scanning and gauge reading. The conversation highlights the shift from novelty to industrial utility, emphasizing the robot's ability to work autonomously in extreme conditions where human access is dangerous or costly.

  • Hackaday Podcast · 51m

    Ep085: Cable Robots Two-Ways, Cubic Raspberry Pi, Plastic Wrap Kayak, and Digging Inductors

    Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams review a week of hardware hacks, including a tentacle robot by Ivo DeHas that uses Bowden cables for both actuation and sensing, and a cubic Raspberry Pi cyberdeck by EKG. They also discuss a project by HP Friedrichs that refines black sand to create homebrew inductor cores, and a plastic wrap kayak built by the SG 19.3 group. The episode concludes with a discussion on GitHub's removal of password authentication in favor of SSH keys and GPG keys.

  • Robot Talk · 33m

    Episode 156: Rugged robots for dangerous missions - Gavin Kenneally

    Gavin Kenneally, Co-Founder and CEO of Ghost Robotics, discusses the development and deployment of the Vision 60 Q-UGV, a rugged quadruped robot designed for defense, security, and industrial applications. He details the engineering challenges of achieving IP67 sealing and 3-hour endurance, the strategic addition of a manipulator arm for door opening and inspection, and the company's stance on ethical military use and cybersecurity. Kenneally also highlights the robot's role in disaster relief, such as the 2024 Japan earthquake, and the company's expansion into commercial perimeter security.

  • Robot Talk · 32m

    Episode 113: Soft robotic hands - Kaspar Althoefer

    Kaspar Althoefer, Director of the Centre for Advanced Robotics at Queen Mary University of London, discusses soft robotic manipulators designed for healthcare and manufacturing. He explains how pneumatic and fabric-based soft hands offer compliance and tactile perception, enabling safe human-robot collaboration and delicate object handling, as seen in collaborations with Okado. Althoefer details applications ranging from minimally invasive surgery projects like Stiff Flop and Endotheragnostics to collaborative manufacturing arms developed under the 4 by 3 project.

  • Robot Talk · 26m

    Episode Forty-Five: Francesco Giorgio-Serchi

    Francesco Giorgio-Serchi, a Lecturer in Robotics at the University of Edinburgh, discusses the design and control of underwater vehicles for extreme weather conditions. He explains how his team uses anticipatory control algorithms to predict wave disturbances and maintain accurate positioning near offshore renewable energy structures. Additionally, he details the development of soft robotics, including the 'Octobot' and stiffening manipulators inspired by squid and jellyfish biomechanics, which offer both agility and efficiency for inspection and potential medical applications.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Next Byte Podcast. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.