A confined space needs snake shapes to achieve access. Confined spaces exist by design (aircraft engine), by failure (collapsed building) or naturally (human body). Snake-arm robots are self-contained portable devices and extensions to existing systems. These products build on software and hardware technology.

Confined spaces exist. A confined space exists because of a lack of ability to take apart or dismantle components. Confined spaces exist in nuclear reactors, aircraft, the human body, industrial processing plant, underwater environments, ship-building, space. Buildings, roads, pipelines and other man-made spaces all have confined spaces. The world is full of awkward confined spaces.

Snake robots are robotic arms used in industrial applications, but the arms are more versatile and move independently because of the jointed structure. Snake robots have a variety of applications. They are implemented as industrial arm robots, surgical minimally invasive devices, and for the military provide unique reconnaissance opportunities. The snake robots are the ultimate in an all-terrain units, they can go anywhere, even under doors and over mountains, in a way that no wheeled vehicle can maneuver.

Snake robots have a variety of applications. They are implemented as industrial arm robots, surgical minimally invasive devices, and for the military provide unique reconnaissance opportunities.

Snake robot markets are set to grow at a rapid pace. Markets at $46 million are anticipated to reach $8.5 billion by 2017. The reasons for strong growth are that the technology is proven, there are 100 successful reference accounts in a variety of industries, and the technology is useful.

Companies Profiled

Applied Robotics Technologies, LLC
Cardiorobotics
OC Robotics
Sintef

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Snake Robots Executive Summary 

Snake Robots Market Shares and Market Forecasts  ES-1

Snake Robot Market Driving Forces  ES-1

Snake Robots Market Shares  ES-3

Snake Robot Market Forecasts  ES-5

Snake Robots Market Description and Market Dynamics 

1. Snake Robots Market Description and Market Dynamics  1-1

1.1   Snake Robots Are Different 1-1

1.2   Modsnake Robots  1-2

1.2.1    Modsnake Robots Support Human Workers  1-3

1.3   Snakelike Robots Slither over Rough Landscape  1-4

1.4   Snake Robots Locomote  1-4

1.5   Serpentine Robot Applications  1-5

1.5.1    Seizing the Robotics Opportunity  1-6

1.5.2    Modular Self-Reconfiguring Robotic Systems  1-7

1.6   Public Aware That Robotics Have “Arrived”  1-7

1.7   Next Generation Snake Robotics  1-9

Snake Robots Market Shares and Market Forecasts 

2. Snake Robots Market Shares and Market Forecasts  2-1

2.1   Snake Robot Market Driving Forces  2-1

2.2   Snake Robots Market Shares  2-3

2.3   Snake Robot Variety of Applications  2-6

2.3.1    OC Robotics Snake-Arm for Aircraft Assembly  2-6

2.3.2    Minimally Invasive Equipment Surgical Robots  2-7

2.3.3    Cardioarm Is A Jointed Robot 2-8

2.3.4    SINTEF Robot Snakes Climb Pipes  2-9

2.3.5    University of Southampton. 2-9

2.3.6    CCTV Inspection  2-10

2.4   Snake Robot Market Forecasts  2-11

2.4.1    Cardiac Surgery Snake Robots Market Forecasts  2-14

2.4.2    Cardiorobotics Initial Goal Is To Help Avoid

Open-Heart Surgery  2-14

2.4.3    Minimally Invasive Surgery Positioning:

Cardiorobotics Requires One Incision At The Bottom Of The

Ribs Whereas The Da Vinci Endoscopic Surgical System

Could Require Up To Six Incision Points  2-15

2.4.4    Cardiorobotics Positioning  2-16

2.5   Snake Robot Prices  2-19

2.5.1    Inaccessible Spaces - OC Robotics  2-19

2.5.2    Cardiac Surgery - Cardioarm   2-19

2.6   Snake Robots Regional Market Analysis  2-21

Snake Robots Product Description  

3. Snake Robot Product Description   3-1

3.1   OC Robotics Snake-Arm for Aircraft Assembly  3-1

3.1.1    OC Robotics Extender Snake Range Of –Motion

Robots Reach The Unreachable  3-2

3.1.2    OC Robotics Snake-Arm –  3-5

3.2   University of Michigan All-Terrain Robotics: 3-8

3.2.1    University of Michigan Mobile Robotics Lab Omnitread  3-9

3.2.2    OmniTread Robot Snakes  3-11

3.3   Applied Robotics Technologies, LLC   3-12

3.3.1    Applied Robotics Technologies Key Benefits  3-16

3.3.2    Applied Robotics Technologies Pricing  3-16

3.4   NASA Robotic Snakes  3-16

3.5   Canadian Robotics Ltd. 3-17

3.6   Japan Guru World-Class Snake Robotics  3-17

3.7   NTNU and SINTEF in Norway World-Class

Snake Robotics  3-18

3.7.1    Sintef Climbing Robot 3-20

3.7.2    Sintef Robot Learning  3-22

3.7.3    Anna Konda Firefighting Snakebot 3-23

3.7.4    SINTEF / NTNU Aiko – Snake Robot With

Electric Motors  3-26

3.7.5    Department of Engineering Cybernetics at NTNU

Pneumosnake – Snake Robot With Pneumatic Bellows  3-27

3.8   Hibot ACM-R5 Amphibious Robosnake  3-31

3.8.1    HiBot Japanese Snake Robot 3-33

3.9   Medical Devices for Minimally Invasive Surgery  3-35

3.9.1    Cardiorobotics Snakelike Robots for Heart Surgery  3-35

3.9.2    Cardiorobotics Cardiac Surgery Snake Robot 3-36

3.9.3    Minimally Invasive Surgery Positioning: Cardiorobotics

Requires One Incision At The Bottom Of The Ribs

Whereas  The Da Vinci Surgical System Could Require

Up To Six Incision Points  3-40

3.10     OC Robotics  3-41

3.10.1  OC Energy & Environment Robotics  3-42

3.11     Maintaining High Voltage Transmission Lines

Using Robotics  3-43

3.11.1  Hydro-Quebec Research Institute (IREQ)LineScout

Tele-Operated Obstacle Crossing System   3-43

3.11.2  HiBot Expliner 3-44

3.11.3  America’s Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Autonomous Version  3-44

Snake RobotsTechnology 

4. Snake Robot Technology  4-1

4.1   Actuated Joints In A Tight Volume  4-1

4.2   OC Robotics  4-2

4.2.1    OC Robotics Develops Snake-Arm Robots

For Confined Spaces  4-3

4.2.2    OC Robotics Snake Arm Actuator Pack  4-5

4.2.3    OC Robotics Snake Arm   4-6

4.2.4    OC Robotics Tool 4-6

4.2.5    OC Robotics Confined Space Piece Manipulation  4-7

4.2.6    OC Robotics Confined Space Reach  4-8

4.3   OC Robotics Snake-Arm Robot Basics  4-10

4.3.1    OC Robotics Snake Robot Curvature –  4-15

4.3.2    OC Robotics Protective Skins  4-16

4.3.3    OC Robotics Manages Hazardous Environments –  4-17

4.3.4    OC Robotics Software - SoftSnake  4-18

4.3.5    OC Robotics PipeSnake  4-18

4.3.6    OC Robotics Snake-Arm Robots Aircraft Assembly  4-22

4.4   CISST ERC Snake Robot 4-27

4.5   Bio-Robotics Lab  4-28

4.6   Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute  4-31

4.7   Sintef  4-32

4.7.1    Sintef Aiko Snake Robot With Electric Motors  4-34

4.8   Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM Land and

Amphibious Robot Snake  4-36

4.8.1    Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM-R5 Control System   4-37

4.8.2    Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM Slim Slime Robot 4-38

4.8.3    Hirose Fukushima Lab Pneumatically-Driven Slime Robot 4-40

4.8.4    Hirose-Fukushima Lab at Tokyo Institute of

Technology Amphibious Snake Robot - ACM-R5  4-49

4.9   DrGavin S7 Snake Robot Rectilinear Locomotion  4-50

4.9.1    Nottingham Trent University  4-54

4.10     Israeli Army Deploys Robot Snakes  4-55

4.10.1  Israeli Military Develops Robot Snake Bomb

 Hirose Fukushima Lab  4-57

4.11     Merlin Robotics, Nottingham Trent University

Robot Snake Dance  4-60

4.12     Snake Bot at Carnegie Mellon  4-61

4.12.1  Carnegie Mellon Conforming Loop  4-64

4.13     CardioArm Biomedicine Snakelike Robots for

Heart Surgery  4-68

4.13.1  Snake Robot Helps Wounded Soldiers  4-70

4.14     Hughes Aircraft R7 Early Robotic Snake  4-72

4.15     British 'Serpentine Spy' 4-73

4.16     IDF Spy Robot Snake  4-74

4.17     SINTEF Robot Snakes Climb Pipes  4-75

4.17.1  SINTEF Anna Konda  4-76

4.18     Climbing Snakes Biorobotics Lab,

Carnegie Mellon University  4-79

4.19     NASA Snake-bot  VS InnoSTAR   4-81

4.20     Applied Robotics Technologies, LLC   4-82

Snake RobotsCompany Profiles 

5. Snake Robots Company Profiles  5-1

5.1   Applied Robotics Technologies, LLC   5-1

5.2   Cardiorobotics  5-1

5.2.1    Cardiorobotics Several Generations Of

Snake Robot Platforms  5-2

5.2.2    Cardiorobotics Advances Clinical Development of

 Snake Robot for Surgery  5-3

5.2.3    Cardiorobotics Positioning  5-3

5.2.4    Cardiac Surgery Gold Standard  5-4

5.2.5    Cardiorobotics Snake Robot Technologies For Use In A

Wide Range Of Surgical And Interventional Applications  5-5

5.2.6    Cardiorobotics Technology & Research Center 5-6

5.3   OC Robotics  5-7

5.3.1    OC Roboics Robots Extend The Reach Of Manual Process  5-7

5.3.2    OC Robotics A CANDU Snake-Arm Robot 5-9

5.3.3    OC Robotics Snake-Arm Robots  5-10

5.4   University of Michigan Mobile Robotics Lab Omnitread  5-13

5.5   Tokyo Institute of Technology Research Laboratories  5-16

5.5.1    Tokyo Institute of Technology /

Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM    5-18

5.5.2    Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM Hibot 5-18

5.6   Sintef  5-19

5.7   Selected List of University and Research Snake Robots  5-20
 

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
 
Snake Robots Executive Summary 

Table ES-1  ES-1

Snake Robot Market Driving Forces 

Table ES-2  ES-2

Confined Spaces 

Figure ES-3  ES-4

Snake Robots Market Shares, Dollars, Worldwide, 2010 

Figure ES-4  ES-5

Snake Robot Market Forecasts 
 

Snake Robots Market Description and Market Dynamics 

Figure 1-1  1-2

Mod Snake Robots Snake Robots Are Different.

Table 1-2  1-6

Serpentine Robot Applications 

Snake Robots Market Shares and Market Forecasts 
 
Table 2-1  2-1

Snake Robot Market Driving Forces 

Table 2-2  2-2

Confined Spaces 

Figure 2-3  2-4

Snake Robots Market Shares, Dollars, Worldwide, 2010 

Figure 2-4  2-5

Snake Robots Market Shares, Dollars, Worldwide, 2010 

Figure 2-5  2-8

Robotic Snake Permits Surgeon to Enter Heart Via Mouth 

Figure 2-6  2-11

Snake Robot Market Forecasts 

Table 2-7  2-12

Snake Robots Market Industry Segments, Dollars,

Worldwide, 2011-2017 

Figure 2-8  2-13

Snake Robot Market Industry Segments, Units, Worldwide,

2011-2017 

Figure 2-9  2-17

Cardiac Surgery Snake Robots Market Forecasts,

Dollars, Worldwide, 2011-2017 

Figure 2-10  2-18

Reaching The Un Reachable Snake Robot Market

Forecasts Dollars, Worldwide, 2011-2017 

Figure 2-11  2-21

Snake Robots Regional Market Segments, Dollars,  2010 

Table 2-12  2-22

Snake Robots Regional Market Segments, 2010 

Snake Robots Product Description  

Figure 3-1  3-3

OC Robotics Extender Snake Range Of –Motion 

Figure 3-2  3-4

OC Robotics Extender Models and Payloads 

Figure 3-2  (Continued) 3-5

OC Robotics Extender Models and Payloads 

Figure 3-3  3-6

OC Robotics Arms in Confined Spaces 

Table 3-4  3-10

University of Michigan Mobile Robotics Lab Omnitread

Robotic Motion Capabilities 

Figure 3-5  3-11

Omnitread robot snakes 

Figure 3-6  3-13

FLEXnav Proprioceptive Position Estimation (PPE) System  

Figure 3-7  3-15

Applied Robotics Technologies Typical Experimental

Results: Position Errors After 120-160 M Travel On

Moderately Rugged Terrain 

Figure 3-8  3-18

Sintef’s Anna Konda Snake Robot

Figure 3-9  3-21

Sintef PiKo Robot For Vertical Movement

Table 3-10  3-23

Sintef’s Anna Konda Firefighting Snakebot

Table 3-11  3-24

SINTEF Firefighting Snakebot Components 

Figure 3-12  3-25

Norwegian Company Sintef Anna Konda 

Table 3-13  3-26

SINTEF Firefighting Snakebot Target  Markets 

Table 3-14  3-26

SINTEF / NTNU Aiko 

Table 3-15  3-27

SINTEF / NTNU Aiko Technical data 

Figure 3-16  3-28

Department of Engineering Cybernetics at NTNU

Pneumosnake – Snake Robot With Pneumatic Bellows 

Table 3-17  3-29

Department of Engineering Cybernetics at NTNU

Technical Data 

Table 3-18  3-30

NTNU / SINTEF Next Generation Robotics for

Norwegian Industry 

Figure 3-19  3-31

Hibot ACM-R5 Amphibious Robosnake 

Figure 3-20  3-32

Hibot ACM-R5 Amphibious Robosnake 

Table 3-21  3-38

Cardiorobotics Medical Field Target Markets 

Figure 3-22  3-39

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke Looking At

Snaking Robot Camera Made by Cardiorobotics 

Snake RobotsTechnology 

Figure 4-1  4-2

OC Robotics Snake-Arm Robots Remote Car Inspection  2

Figure 4-2  4-4

Robotics Develops Snake-Arm Robots For Confined Spaces  4

Figure 4-3  4-5

OC Robotics Actuator Pack  5

Figure 4-4  4-6

OC Robotics Snake Arm   6

Figure 4-5  4-7

OC Robotics Snake Robot Tool 7

Table 4-6  4-8

OC Robotics Able To Snake Into Cluttered Environments  8

Figure 4-7  4-9

OC Robotics Extend Robot Arms With Elbows  9

Figure 4-8  4-10

OC Robotics Snake-Arm Robot Basics 

Figure 4-9  4-15

OC Robotics Snake Curvatures 

Figure 4-10  4-16

OC Robotics Protective Skins 

Figure 4-11  4-17

OC Robotics Arm Materials Allow For Radiation,

Heat, Vacuum, Magnetic Fields, And Operations In

Explosive Atmospheres 

Figure 4-12  4-19

OC Robotics Snake-Arm Robots Extend Reach Of The Human 

Figure 4-13  4-20

OC Robotics PipeSnake 

Figure 4-14  4-21

OC Robotics Snake Robot Angle of Curvature 

Figure 4-15  4-24

OC Robotics Snake-Arm Robots Aircraft

Figure 4-16  4-25

OC Robotics Snake-Arm Robot Extender 

Figure 4-17  4-26

OC Robotics Snake-Arm Robot Made Up Of A Large

 Number Of Segments 

Figure 4-18  4-27

CISST ERC Snake Robot

Figure 4-19  4-28

Bio-Robotics Lab Snake Robots that Climb 

Figure 4-20  4-29

Bio-Robotics Lab Snake Robot Climbing 

Figure 4-21  4-31

Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute Door Opening Robot

Figure 4-22  4-32

Sintef Snake Robot Designed To Be Used To Put Out Fires 

Figure 4-23  4-33

Sintef Anna Konda Robot Equipped With Nozzles 

Figure 4-24  4-34

Sintef Aiko Snake Robot With Electric Motors 

Figure 2-25  4-35

Sintef’s Snake Robot

Figure 4-26  4-36

Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM-R5 - Amphibious Robot Snake 

Figure 4-27  4-38

Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM Slim Slime Robot

Table 4-28  4-39

Slim Slime ACM Robot Features 

Table 4-29  4-39

Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM Slim Slime Robot Applications 

Figure 4-30  4-41

Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM Serpentine Propulsion 

Figure 4-31  4-42

Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM xSlim Slime Robot With a Child 

Figure 4-32  4-43

Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM Slim Slime Robot

Module Construction 

Figure 4-33  4-44

Tokyo Institute of Technology / Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM

Snake Like Trackers 

Figure 4-34  4-45

Tokyo Institute of Technology / Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM

Snake Like Creep Motion Of Snake, Pedal Waves Of Snail And

Limpet, Lateral Rolling, And Pivot Turn 

Figure 4-35  4-46

Hirose Fukushima Lab ACM Robot Snake Modular Construction 

Figure 4-36  4-47

Snake Robot Hirose-Fukushima Lab at Tokyo Institute of

Technology 

Figure 4-37  4-48

Hirose-Fukushima Lab at Tokyo Institute of Technology

ACM-R5 

Figure 4-38  4-49

Robot Hirose-Fukushima Lab at Tokyo Institute of

Technology Amphibious Snake Robot - ACM-R5 

Table 4-39  4-50

DrGavin S7 Rectilinear Locomotion Snake Robot

Figure 4-40  4-51

DrGavin S7 Sensor Suite That Includes Detectors 

Figure 4-41  4-52

DrGavin S5 Robot Snake Control System Electronics

Functional Diagram  

Figure 4-42  4-53

DrGavin Robot Snake 

Figure 4-43  4-54

Merlin Robotics / Nottingham Trent University Air Robot Snake 

Figure 4-44  4-55

Israeli Army Deploys Robot Snakes 

Figure 4-45  4-57

Israeli Army Bomb Hirose Fukushima Lab Robot Snakes 

Figure 4-46  4-58

Israeli Snake Robot

Figure 4-47  4-60

Merlin Robotics, Nottingham Trent University Robot Snake Dance 

Figure 4-48  4-61

Snake Bot at the Carnegie Mellon 

Figure 4-49  4-63

Carnegie Mellon Modular Bot

Figure 4-50  4-64

Carnegie Mellon Modular Bot Tricycle Riding 

Figure 4-51  4-65

Carnegie Mellon Obstacle Climbing 

Figure 4-52  4-66

Carnegie Mellon Fence Climbing 

Figure 4-53  4-67

Carnegie Mellon Stair Climbing 

Figure 4-54  4-68

CardioArm Biomedicine Snakelike Robots for Heart Surgery 

Figure 4-55  4-70

Snake Robot Helps Wounded Soldiers 

Figure 4-56  4-72

Hughes Aircraft R7 Early Robotic Snake 

Figure 4-57  4-73

British Military Reconnaissance Robot Can Be

Dropped From A Helicopter 

Figure 4-58  4-74

University of Southampton Anaconda Rubber Snake

Generates Power From Waves 

Figure 4-59  4-75

SINTEF Robot Snakes Climb Pipes 

Figure 4-60  4-76

SINTEF Anna Konda The Fire Fighting Snake Robot

Figure 4-61  4-77

SINTEF Aiko Snake Robot With Electric Motors 

Figure 4-62  4-78

Sintef Pneumosnake Snake Robot With Pneumatic Bellows 

Figure 4-63  4-79

Climbing Snakes Biorobotics Lab, Carnegie Mellon University 

Figure 4-64  4-81

InnoSTAR™ Robotic Kit

Figure 4-65  4-83

Applied Robotics Technologies, LLC Fiber Optic Gyros

Function Of Rate Of Rotation And Temperature  4-83

Snake RobotsCompany Profiles 

 Table 5-1  5-4

Cardiac Surgery Improvements 

Table 5-2  5-5

Cardiorobotics Snake Robot Technologies For Use In A Wide Range Of Surgical And Interventional Applications 

Table 5-3  5-6

Cardiorobotics Snake Robot Technologies Specialist Areas Served 

Figure 5-4  5-9

OC Robotics Conducts Inspections Within CANDU Reactors 

Figure 5-5  5-11

OC Robotics Snake-Arm Robot Technology 

Table 5-6  5-14

University of Michigan Mobile Robotics Lab Areas Of Interest

Figure 5-7  5-17

Tokyo Institute of Technology Electrochemistry

Spextroscopic Techniques