SickSack robotic snake slithers through RoboCup
Although DARwin looked to be a fine effort from the US of A, Aske Olsson and Lars Pontoppidan's entry relied on a more down-low approach to taking care of business. Their SickSack robotic snake chose to crawl rather than run, but the uniqueness of the creature's movement most definitely deserve props. Gearing up a series of rollers to blast across the raceway isn't all that impressive, but the SickSack's use of passive wheels combined with mechanics that enabled lateral undulation made this thing about as beastly as a metal-clad bot can get. It also featured eight Futaba servos, a microcontroller, and a good bit of wiring and programming for its locomotion, and it (rightfully) took home the award for best design / effects at RoboCup 2007. Click on through for the creepy crawly videos.
[Via Lars' Electric Endeavors]
