--- title: "Madman Invents Robot Suit That Lets Snake Walk With Legs" description: "A science vlogger has given snakes their legs back — and the fact that led him to his mad invention is pretty outrageous." date: "2022-08-15" modified: "2022-08-15" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/snake-legs-robotic-exoskeleton" categories: - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "3d printing" - "robotic exoskeleton" - "snake" - "the digest" --- # Madman Invents Robot Suit That Lets Snake Walk With Legs ![A science vlogger has given snakes their legs back — and the fact that led him to his mad invention is pretty outrageous.]() *\Image: Allen Pan\* ## Leggy Bois Great, they're giving snakes legs now — or, as one science vlogger claimed, giving them their legs "back." In a recently-uploaded video, creator and self-professed snake lover Allen Pan said that he "feel\[s\] bad for snakes" because "[they lost their legs]()" to evolution. To right that injustice, he ended up making a robotic exoskeleton for them in an effort to help them "find" their lost legs. The result? An amazingly goofy 3D printed exoskeleton that let one lucky python strut around like she owned the place. ## Slither Hither Pan pointed to the fact that snakes' legs aren't gone entirely — they exist while snakes are in utero, and when they're born, they still have vestigial leg-like... structures. "It turns out that snakes do have two legs when they're embryos," the vlogger said, "but their DNA is all fucked up so the genes that are supposed to grow two legs, uh, grow two penises instead." ([This is true]().) "They can't walk on those," he added. ## Python Perfect After an initial try that resulted in too much snake droopage, Pan settled on a 2.0 version of the exoskeleton with four legs — two in front and two in back, which is similar to the [Western three-toed skink](), a lizard with four teeny tiny legs — that featured a long tube that snakes could easily get in and out of as they pleased. Unfortunately, the snake doesn't yet decide where the robot walks, though [*Hackaday* speculated]() about how that could be achieved as well. To test the rig, Pan contacted a snake handler and breeder who goes by the handle "[Granddaddy Herp]()" and was able to get a large and beautiful yellow ball python into the prosthetic and zooming around on the legs. That was enough to to convince Pan that snakes do, indeed, "want their legs back." "I cannot get over the image of the snake crawling into its robotic exoskeleton," the science vlogger said. And honestly, neither can we. **More snek:** *[Scientists Monitoring Radioactive Snakes Found Near Fukushima Meltdown Site]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()