Snakes in space? In this 1991 lecture, robotics expert Dr. Red Whittaker outlines the potential of "serpentine mechanisms" for space travel. Using footage from a 1990 JTEC assessment of Japanese space robotics, Whittaker demonstrates how these bio-inspired machines could "swim through the environment" without wheels, functioning much like an elephant's trunk to navigate complex obstacles | Computer History Museum

Meet the human computer whose math sent the first Americans into space. | The History Page