Crave

A U.K. company has developed what it calls the smallest snake-arm robot ever, one that is flexible and compliant, like an endoscope, but fully controllable and, like a robot, can be precisely positioned.

The unit will be tested by the U.S. Department of Defense in conducting inspections and work inside confined or cluttered spaces.

(Credit: OC Robotics)

When not in use, the robot coils up into a briefcase-size box where it is stowed. This robot has no "elbows," which allows it to "follow its nose" while maneuvering in tight quarters, according to the developer, Bristol-based OC Robotics, unlike conventional industrial robots, which are virtually useless "because their elbows get in the way." (Videos).

The snake-arm is 24-inches long, with longer units on the way. The tendon-driven arm is comprised of vertebrae, similar to a human spine, with wires terminating at various points along its length. The result is that an operator with a joystick can independently control each of the segments (PDF).

The company envisions dozen of uses for the new snake-bot, including aerospace assembly, nuclear inspection and a variant of invasive surgical called "natural orifice surgery." Yeeoow.

(Credit: OC Robotics)

(Credit: Yanko Design)

(Credit: Yanko Design)

From a usefulness standpoint, we're liking the Lisco USB Snake. From a fashion standpoint, we're not so sure. Still, you got to give props to Laurent Hongisto, the Finnish designer who came up with a USB cable that can be worn as a slap-bracelet-inspired wristband.

Hongisto covers USB cables in a silky polyurethane material, making the otherwise not-so-comfy cables comfortable enough to wear. Those who've spent half an hour searching for a USB cable might appreciate this '90s-style bit of peripheral couture.

(Via Yanko Design)

There's no doubt that many scientists are looking to nature for mechanical inspiration. This past spring we have seen robotic bugs, robo-fish, and perhaps even the promise of a robotic dolphin.

For its design of a robot for use inside pipes, the SINTEF ICT part of the SINTEF Group, a Norway-based technology research company, was inspired by snakes.

New robotic snake design can climb pipes vertically.

(Credit: SINTEF ICT)

The robot as designed (it's still not a finished prototype) maneuvers itself not only horizontally like a team of train cars, but can climb vertically as needed inside pipes with a squirming motion.

"When the robot enters a vertical pipe, it lifts its head in the pipe and meets the pipe wall. It can then either move sideways with its abdomen against the pipe and twist itself upwards or it can topple backwards, attach itself to the pipe wall, in the same way as we would put our feet against a shaft wall to hold on, and then roll upwards," according to a statement from SINTEF.

The final robot will be approximately 1.5 meters long, made of aluminum and consist of about 11 modules connected by joints. SINTEF sees its robots being used to check on the quality of oil and gas pipelines, or as a cleaning tool in ventilation systems.

But right now, the SINTEF snake can not autonomously navigate any set of strange pipes. The team is currently using a Lego Mindstorms robot with an attached camera that navigates a pre-programmed pipe system. The roboticists are working on a visual system that would allow the robot to detect pipe turns ahead of time so that it could navigate itself as needed through any system of pipes. A prototype of that robot should be complete by the end of 2008, according to SINTEF.

ACM-R5

(Credit: Hirose Lab, Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Tokyo Instite of Technology)

The SINTEF robot could be considered a distant cousin to the ACM-R5 amphibious robot that came out of the Hirose-Fukushima Robotics Lab at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan.

The ACM-R5 robot can slither both on land and in water.

Shigeo Hirose, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, has been working on what he refers to as "serpent robots" and serpentine locomotion since the 1970s.

The ACM-R5 robot that came out of Hirose's lab first debuted at the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi, Japan with improved versions shown publicly in 2007. An incredibly life-like snake robot, it is shown in the video below, gliding through water in a test pool.

Carnegie Mellon's roboticists, meanwhile, have their own Snakebot slithering in the labs.

(Credit: Evergreen)

(Credit: GeekStuff4U)

Here's one prediction for 2008 that we dearly hope does not come true: goth as the big tech fashion trend. We wish the recent spate of dark products were only Halloween novelties, but the fact that we're only in the first month of the year does not bode well.

In the last week alone, Akihabara News has highlighted a full desktop complement consisting of a macabre keyboard, mouse, and mousepad. That followed a cobra-wrapped Webcam and a pair of skull speakers that made their disturbing debut only a few days earlier.

In retrospect, the most telling sign of this burgeoning trend surfaced back in November--when even Hello Kitty began wearing black.

(Credit: Ranking1)

Crave has seen some bizarre health and fitness equipment, but this may deserve a category all its own. The Korean-made "Photo Sauna Cauterizer" (cauterizer?) emits a laser with a "low level of radiation" for what its manufacturer claims are a variety of health benefits. An understandably skeptical Red Ferret says the claims involve "some kind of oxygen rejuvenation." Call us chicken, but anything that mentions cauterization and radiation in the same sentence isn't something we want strapped anywhere near our waistlines, or anyplace else on our bodies.

(Credit: Yanko Design)

There must be something in the air today--or, more accurate, in the ground. Only minutes after we posted an item about a robotic snake, another item of serpentine nature slithered across our screen.

Memory Infinite has developed interlocking USB storage devices that can be combined to add capacity as needed, as seen on Yanko Design. This is particularly useful if you have only one port available for a USB plug, and you can coil them around to suit your desktop space needs. And if you collect enough of them, maybe you can make them into a makeshift "Slinky."

(Credit: Slashgear)

Some of us at Crave have managed to resist our adolescent urges to collect toy robots, in a rare example of self-restraint. Our willpower met its match, however, when we saw photos of WowWee's "Roboboa."

It had been mentioned earlier along with the FlyTech Dragonfly and other bots at CES, but actually seeing a robotic snake in action is something to behold. In a video clip, it's reminiscent of Pixar's seminal "Luxo Jr." lamp.

The bionic serpent's 40 movements can be controlled by its remote, according to Slashgear, or it can just be left to boogie to the beat of your music. Not just a plaything, the Roboboa reportedly serves as an alarm clock, an iPod speaker and even a "room sentry that can track motion." If the rumored $119 price turns out to be true, we'll be the first in line.

(Credit: New Line Cinema)

Heard about the phone calls from Samuel L. Jackson and read news about the phenomenon, but just couldn't quite bring yourself to pay the $10?

No worries. The snakes are back.

Snakes on a Plane is now available on DVD in case you missed Agent Flynn cursing out the "mother f***in' snakes on the mother f***in' plane" the first time around.

If you really want to purchase this fine film for posterity, drinking games and whatnot, Snakes on a Plane is available for $20 from New Line Cinema and the other usual places.

For the rest of us, this is just a friendly Crave public service announcement reminding you to add Snakes on a Plane to your Netflix queue.

I could make all kinds of jokes about this real snakeskin Treo case from Monaco, linked via geekBlue. I could draw some kind of analogy between venomous snakes and PDA-toting, suit-clad Wall Streeters. Or, of course, I could make a jab about Samuel L. Jackson killing snakes on planes and turning them into Treo cases.

But I won't. I'll keep it short and to the point: wouldn't it be a little disconcerting sometimes to think about the fact that you keep your Treo wrapped up in dead snake?

(Photo: geekBlue)