Carnegie Mellon's Modular HUMRS Robot Can Now Navigate Underwater
CMU's snake-like robot can now slither its way underwater, enabling it to inspect ships, submarines and infrastructure for damage.
Engineers at Carnegie Mellon's Bio Robotics Lab have updated their modular robotic snake, which can now swim and navigate confined areas underwater. The engineers tested the HUMRS (Hardened Underwater Modular Robotic Snake) at the University's pool, where it demonstrated its swimming capabilities and precision navigation through a series of underwater hoops. The CMU team have upgraded the robot to give it new capabilities over the last few years, including the ability to climb dunes and grasp various objects.
Work on the latest upgrade began in July of last year by adapting the modules with a level of water resistance to operate in less-than-ideal conditions. They then outfitted the HUMRS with a series of turbines and thrusters that allow the robot to swim and navigate in water and finally testing the robot back in March of this year. "We can go places that other robots cannot. It can snake around and squeeze into hard-to-reach underwater spaces," states Howie Choset, professor of Computer Science.
The HUMRS robot was developed through a grant provided by the ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Institute, which aims to assist the DoD (Department of Defense) with inspecting ships, submarines, and other underwater infrastructures damage. Typically, these types of jobs are handled by Navy divers, or other submersibles, which takes time and money to complete. By comparison, the HUMRS robot can be deployed with little notice and provide a live feed of the inspection area in real-time. The snake robot can also navigate in areas such as pipes, tanks, and offshore rigs where divers can't reach.