This serpentine truss was developed and built by Foster-Miller for NASA. It has a 14 ft reach, 18 degrees of freedom, and is used to support maintenance activities in sensitive areas of the space shuttle that are inaccessible to humans during missions. Because it is constructed of lightweight, high strength materials and is capable of snake-like motions along complicated pathways, it is ideal for inspection and light lifting. Its microprocessor-based controls remember its entry trajectory and automatically retract it along the identical path, not touching or disturbing anything in its wake. The man/machine interface options included manual control, "learned" control from manual input and automatic preprogrammed control.
