So TEPCO was allowed to spurn the rescue robots built with public money.

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Compared to existing robotic devices and traditional means of search and rescue using sniffer dogs, snake robots are packed with sensors and can use their unique shape and delicate movement to crawl over rubble and bend around obstacles.

CNN: Snake robots slither to the rescue

However, while it may be another ten years before snake robots are consistently used in search and rescue operations or in medical situations, Choset believes they will one day be hugely valuable devices.

CNN: Snake robots slither to the rescue

Robots that emerge from the research project could help in search and rescue missions or work on farms mechanically pollinating crops.

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Choset and his team have designed a number of different snake robots that can undertake all manner of tasks from assisting in surgery to leading the way in rescue missions after earthquakes or collapsed mines.

CNN: Snake robots slither to the rescue

Engineers are already benefitting from Full's discovery as they are finding ways to build climbing robots with better tails that could in the future be used to aid in search-and-rescue operations or even space exploration.

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These collaborative robots remind us a lot of NASA's SuperBot, only with a clear mission to search and rescue (and minus the crazy acrobatics).

ENGADGET: Modular robots join forces to search and rescue