In order to overcome the difficulty of aircraft fuel tank inspection for crew, a continuum aircraft tank inspection robot was designed in this paper. Based on the structural characteristics and movement mechanism of snake vertebrae, the rzeppa universal joint and the cylindrical helical spring were adopted as the main body of continuum structure to improve the load capacity. Based on the isokinetic feature of rzeppa universal joint, the kinematics was obtained. The hardware system was realized including the host computer module, continuum structure control module and continuum structure, and the control flow charts were designed. Finally prototype experiments were performed, and the experimental results confirmed the strong load capacity and practicality of the continuum robot.