HyDRAS the serpentine robot rolls up a pole by oscillating its joints.

Virginia Tech's Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) has designed three pole-climbing serpentine robots.

HyDRAS-Ascent (hyper-redundant discrete robotic articulated serpentine for climbing), HyDRAS-Ascent II, and CIRCA (climbing inspection robot with compressed air) demonstrate propulsion techniques that could eventually be used in structural inspection.

The autonomous robots are designed to climb scaffolding and buildings by wrapping around a poll or beam and then rolling upward using an oscillating joint motion. said RoMeLa director Dennis Hong. Using built-in sensors and cameras, the robots would then inspect the structures or handle other tasks now done by humans.

The movement used to climb is unique, claims Virginia Tech, and has not been found in nature. "Unlike inchworm type gaits often being developed for serpentine robot locomotion, this novel climbing gait requires the serpentine robot to wrap around the structure in a helical shape, and twist its whole body to climb or descend by rolling up or down the structure," Hong said.

HyDRAS climbs by electric motors, while CIRCA uses compressed air muscles.

"The use of compressed air makes this approach feasible by enabling it to be light weight, providing compliant actuation force for generating the gripping force for traction, and allowing it to use a simple discrete control scheme to activate the muscles in a predetermined sequence," Hong said.

At the moment, control is through an umbilical to a laptop. Hong and team are working on independent operation using an onboard microprocessor and power source.

Sadly without the snakes, here are videos of other RoMeLa robots