One of the key challenges for NASA’s Mars rovers has been navigating the terrain of the Red Planet without assistance. However, while robots may have difficulty with certain surfaces, there are animals on Earth who can do it without a second thought. The authors of a new study hope that by studying the way sidewinder snakes handle difficult terrain such as loose sand dunes they can improve the ability of rovers and other robots to handle difficult terrain.

Studying living organisms and attempting to replicate their natural abilities  is called biomimicry and it is emerging as one of the hottest fields in technology. In recent years, for example, maple seed keys have been used to design small flying nano-craft, shark fins have been used to design underwater turbines and the skin on gecko’s feet has been copied to produce more effective climbing gear.

In this latest example, published in the October 10 edition of the journal Science, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, Oregon State University, and Zoo Atlanta teamed up in an attempt to mimic the movement of sidewinder snakes.

Researchers at Zoo Atlanta used high speed cameras to monitor the movements of snakes in a special enclosure containing sand from the sidewinder’s native Arizona desert. The enclosure could be raised or lowered to create different angles in the sand and air blowers to smooth the sand after each exercise.

“If a robot gets stuck in the sand, that’s a problem, especially if that sand happens to be on another planet. Sidewinders never get stuck in the sand, so they are helping us create robots that can avoid getting stuck in the sand. These venomous snakes are offering something to humanity,” said Joe Mendelson, director of research at Zoo Atlanta in a statement.

If the sidewinders method of movement can be replicated, it could have useful applications far beyond space exploration. As part of the testing one of the Carnegie Mellon University designed prototypes, was used to explore Red Sea caves which contain especially challenging sandy slopes. Sidewinder robots could also be used in search and rescue operations to navigate, potentially unstable, rubble.

“The snake is one of the most versatile of all land animals, and we want to capture what they can do. The desert sidewinder is really extraordinary, with perhaps the fastest and most efficient natural motion we’ve ever observed for a snake,” said Ross Hatton, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Oregon State University who has studied the mathematical complexities of snake motion, and how they might be applied to robots.

The sidewinder robot may be only the tip of the iceberg in terms of improving robot, and human, mobility and navigation. Daniel Goldman, an associate professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Physics and one of the leaders of this project, has also spent time studying the movements of turtle hatchlings, crabs, sandfish lizards, and other animals over difficult terrain.

“We are interested in how animals move on different types of granular and complex surfaces. The idea of moving on flowing materials like sand can be useful in a broad sense. This is one of the nicest examples of collaboration between biology and robotics,” said Goldman.

With each step in the process the number of places that are too difficult or inhospitable for exploration is reduced.