Robot snakes hunted survivors of the Venezuelan earthquake in collapsed buildings

Robots snaked their way through the rubble of collapsed buildings to search for people trapped after Venezuela’s second earthquake.

Robots called snakes represented a special technological aid in search and rescue around the world following the two earthquakes that occurred in Venezuela on June 24, killing more than 5,000 people and leaving 16,740 wounded. Rescuers around the world used trained dogs, seismic and sound waves, video cameras on trees, or thermal imaging cameras to search for signs of survivors—but video camera-equipped snakebots can squeeze through tight spaces to search inside the rubble of collapsed buildings.

“The reason snake robots are useful is that they can get into densely packed books that machines and humans can’t, and it’s important for search and rescue because we were able to increase the visibility of those rescuers safely,” he said. Howie Chosetdirector of the Biorobotics Lab at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, told Ars. “In other words, you’re doing a lot less surgery in a house with a snake robot.”

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