Snake-Like Robots For most
people, snakes seem unpleasant or even threatening. But Howie Choset sees in
their delicate movements a way to save lives. The 37-year-old
Carnegie Mellon University professor has 1 (spend)years developing snake-like robots he hopes will eventually slide
through fallen buildings in search of victims 2
(trap) after natural disasters or other emergencies.
Dan Kara is president of Robotics Trends, a Northboro, Mass. based
company that publishes an online industry magazine and
3 (run)robotics trade shows. He said there are other
snake-like to-brass being developed, 4 (main)at universities, but didn’t know of one that could climb
pipes. The Carnegie Mellon machines are
5 (design)to carry cameras and electronic sensors and can
be controlled with a joystick(操纵杆). They move smoothly with the help of small
electric motors, or servos, 6 (common)used by hobbyists in model airplanes. Built
lightweight materials, the robots are about the size of a human arm or 7 (small). They can sense which way is up, but
are only as good as their human operators, Choset added. Sam
Stover, a search term manager with the Federal Emergency Management Agency based
in Indiana, said snake-type robots would offer 8
(great) mobility than equipment currently available, such as
cameras attached to extendable roles. "It just allows us to do
something we’ve not been able to do before," Stover said, "We needed them
yesterday." He said sniffer dogs are still the best search tool
for rescue workers, but that they can only be used 9
(effective) when workers have access to damaged
building. Stover, among the rescue workers who handled the
aftermath(后果)of Hurricane Katrina, said snake robots would have helped rescuers
search 10 (flood)houses in that
disaster. Choset said the robots may not be ready for. use for
another five to ten years, depending on funding.