Flying Snakes as Models for Robots?

“I hope that before the end of my life that we do have a search-and-rescue robot based on flying snakes."

Together with colleagues, Dr. Jake Socha, a professor of biomedical engineering and mechanics at Virginia Tech, recently published a study on how flying snakes fly. It turns out that they flatten themselves, undulate to maintain stability and have an approximate 2:1 glide ratio. If they jump from 30 feet up they can travel 60 feet in distance. Read more here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-020-0935-4

Flying snake drones as toys for Christmas 2022? Maybe not. But we can be sure that the Pentagon is looking into it.

*Quote of Dr. Socha from David Waldstein, NY Times. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

- Mike Marks