Snake rescue

This is a fantastic article about how technology can change our lives or should I say save our lives. Gavin Miller researched snakes and realised that we should appreciate them more than we do today. Their perfect movements, their ability to survive in many places and so on. Therefore he created a robot that looks like a snake which can be used to find bodies after catastrophes such as earthquakes, where these snakes can help find people under the ruins. 

They tested one in the San Francisco Bay area after an earthquake. This robot snake has many wonderful functions or more like qualities that can help find people rescuers wouldn’t able to discover. This snake can be controlled by joysticks and it's made very easy. According to Miller they are radio controlled and they're untethered which means they carry their own computers and batteries. They were named S1, S2 and so on. They are kept in a two metre long tube which can be powered up. At it's head a camera is placed to make the search easier. This snake is also capable of automatically adapting to uneven ground which helps it to go under the ruins and look for survivors. There's a so called binaural stereo on the head of the snake which allows it to send back the sounds heard to the operator. As it approaches It sweeps the area around it with a pyroelectric device to look for body heat,In the event that the composite cable becomes tangled, or hinders the snakes movement it can detach from the tail and this can act as a base which enables the snake and the operator to communicate by a wireless device. 

The snake now runs on internal power. Using a sonar system, the snake can detect a hollow area below it which could contain survivors. To gain access to this location it can place a small detonation device found under its chin. Upon moving back a safe distance the device is set off and creates a small hole which the snake can lower its head through. It then uses an infra red camera and microphones to locate any survivors. The snake also contains a built in loud speaker through which the rescuers can communicate or converse with the survivor, determine how badly injured they are and also to let them know that help is on its way. Once found the robot relays back information relating to the exact location of the individual and the exact path it took and the obstacles in between so as rescuers can plan the safest route.