Modeling, rigging, and animating a segmented robotic tail

Hi all,

I’m trying to model a robotic-looking tail with defined segments (as seen here). So far, this (533.1 KB) is what i’ve came up with. The segments will be arrayed along the curve is a circular manner, starting about 1/3 from the end of the curve and decreasing in size ever so slightly towards the end. What would be the best way to approach this, up until the rigging and animation stage (i.e. moving the rigged tail and having the segments attached to it)?

Thanks in advance