After September 11, it became painfully clear that some disasters are beyond the scale of human relief efforts--but not beyond the reach of the lowly snake. Flexible, powerful, and incredibly versatile, the slithering bots being developed at the Robotics Institute's snake robot lab can not only work through high-density rubble but can also climb poles (video), worm their way up (video) the insides of pipes, and roll like a wheel to move efficiently across flat areas.