Inbox fun

Krishna found some interesting links to various snake-like robots that I'm working through this morning.

• The NASA space SnakeBot looks interesting, but the creator of the bot seems more focused on reconfigurable robots. His most recent paper (a review) reference work from 2002, suggesting it's not a current topic.
• The Cornell SnakeArm team: I'm not sure if this is an undergrad or a graduate effort. The professor (Francis Moon) listed on their page doesn't seem to specialize in snake robots. Their video (see below) sugests they have a great mechanical design, but no kinematics. It's probably worth contacting them!

Other than that, I'm just working through my inbox, preparing a final, etc. As Krishna says, we really need a good video of our robot to show the world!

Also from Krishna in my inbox, a nice thesis provides a good background an introduction to Cosserat rods, plus good diagrams that explain shear and bending strains.