Tokyo Institute of Technology (Hirose lab) / HiBot (Japan) ACM-R5H Amphibious Snake (1)

Tokyo Institute of Technology (Hirose lab) / HiBot (Japan) ACM-R5H Amphibious Snake (2)

UnannouncedOffered by HiBot as a commercial/research product; price never published.

Discontinued · unavailableNot programmableAmphibiousSwimsModular segmentsHirose ACM lineage

UnavailableShipping: Discontinued. Listed as discontinued; HiBot did not publish pricing and no resale market exists.

Remote control: Not possible. Operated through HiBot's own wireless control software; no public API.

Robots Guide (IEEE Spectrum) ↗HiBot ↗

Overview

The descendant of Shigeo Hirose's Active Cord Mechanism (ACM) snake robots, a lineage that goes back to a 1972 prototype. The first ACM-R5 prototype was built at Tokyo Tech in 2005; HiBot's 2010 product version is fully waterproof, modular (segments can be added or removed) and can swim as well as slither. HiBot no longer lists it, and its catalogue now centres on other inspection robots.

Specifications

Category	Crawlers, snakes & climbers · Snake robots
Released	2010
Availability	Discontinued · unavailable
Programmability	No programmability
Best for	Professionals & labs
Vision sensors	Camera
Actuators	Unknown
Audio	No audio
Compute type	Arduino / ESP32 / microcontroller
Remote control	Not programmable
Size	170 × 12 × 12 cm, 7 kg (9-segment configuration)
Locomotion	Chain of waterproof segments, 2 DoF each, with passive wheels and fins; slithers on land and swims
Compute	HiBot Mini2Axes SH2 microcontroller in every segment; head segment with ARM Cortex-M4 and Wi-Fi
Camera	CCD cameras in the head and tail segments
Sensors	Not published beyond cameras; other sensors can be added
Runtime	Battery and charger in each segment (runtime not published)
Speed	1.44 km/h
SDK	None public (custom embedded system)