AmphiBot (Robot Snake)

AmphiBot is a biologically inspired amphibious snake-like robot developed at EPFL's Biorobotics Laboratory for outdoor robotics tasks, drawing from snakes and elongate fishes like lampreys or eels. It crawls on land and swims in water using undulatory locomotion controlled by central pattern generators (CPGs) to test adaptive controllers and study animal neural networks. Key features include modular segments with DC motors, improved waterproofing, wireless communication, and onboard CPGs. Use cases involve environmental monitoring like pollution detection in lakes (AmphiBot IV), amphibious exploration, and as testbed for locomotion research; latest Amphibot III achieves human-like swimming speeds.