These snake-like robots could be used in surgery to save lives

When it comes to robotics, it seems engineers take a lot of inspiration from snakes. In the past, we have brought you snake robots that fix pipelines on the ocean floor, snake-inspired machines that burrow through sand and soil, and snake-like robotics that could even be used in emergencies. Now, a team led by Jessica Burgner-Kahrs, the director of the Continuum Robotics Lab at the University of Toronto Mississauga, is building very slender, flexible, and extensible robots that could be used by doctors to save lives, according to a press release by the institution. They do this by accessing difficult-to-reach places.