Engineer hopes to make Korea a snake robot powerhouse

The day after Japan was hit by a devastating earthquake in 2011, a snake robot was deployed to fallen buildings. The Active Scope Camera was made by the International Rescue System Institute, a Japanese manufacturer of rescue robots.

With a camera on its head, the robot searched for survivors buried beneath the buildings and awaiting help. Snake robots can go into tunnels, caves and cave crevices, places where large robots cannot reach.

Korea is also actively promoting the development of such robots. A Dong-A Ilbo reporter visited the Korea Atomic Energy Institute in Daejeon on Monday. At the office of Shin Ho-cheol, researcher of the institute`s nuclear fusion technology development team, a long snake robot threw its head forward and the rest of its body followed.

Looking like a real snake, the robot measured 1 meter long and 5.8 millimeters in diameter and had a train-shaped body, eyes, nose and mouth. It advanced and rolled in an S-shape like a real snake.

Shin looked at the computer screen that featured the video of what the robot sent. The reporter watched in amazement, but Shin said all he could do was to manipulate the movements of the robot though a PC and cables. Shin said a remote control function needs to be added to place the robot at a real-life rescue site, while intelligence functions were also needed.

The scientist began to develop robots in 2009. After seeing the 1995 collapse of Sampoong Department Store and the 2003 explosion at a Daegu subway station, he said he had always dreamed of deploying rescue robots to disaster sites as done in Japan, the U.S. and Israel.

"I`ve always dreamed of making snake robots whenever I saw firefighters taking risks and jumping into fires, and families of victims stamping their feet in front of disaster sites," Shin said.

He said he wants to improve the robot`s dynamics to allow a more elaborate and fast motion. Though he said he cannot make the robot that can climb up a tree soon as researchers in Japan and the U.S. have done, his goal of this year is to make a snake robot that can freely climb a stairway.

Shin also hopes to make a lizard robot. Lizard robots with legs, which have more complicated design than that of snake robots. But they are more useful in disaster relief.

A routine for Shin is to leave his office around 10 p.m. He says he wishes to go beyond making search robots and invent robots that rescue people.

"My dream is to make robots that help disaster relief and make Korea a snake robot powerhouse. I hope that this year is a year of wisdom and richness like the snake," he said.

jjy2011@donga.com