VIDEO: STANFORD DESIGNS A ROBOT THAT GROWS INTO ITS ROLE!

A Stanford team has developed a flexible robot that grows like a vine, squeezing through rubble to find trapped survivors and even deliver water to them. The robot is a 'snake' that starts life as a rolled-up, inside out tube made of soft material with a pump at one end and a camera at the other. When the snake robot is fired up the robot inflates and grows in the direction of the camera end while the other end stays put. 

The robot is able to inflate one side more than the other, allowing it to turn corners and it decides where to go from the camera and algorithms that interpret what it is seeing. This allows the robot to follow complex paths of its own choice to reach a designated goal. 

In the video, you will see the Stanford team testing the capabilities of the snake robot through a series of obstacle courses, and it successfully navigates its way through flypaper, glue and nails before climbing up an ice wall. Even though moving through the nails the robot did end up getting a puncture. Thanks to the method of how it operates, the punctured side doesn't move and the nail keeps the hole plugged while the top of the robot continues to extend. 

Have a look a the video to see the whole story behind Stanford's snake robot.