Miscellaneous

Picaxe-controlled Search and Rescue robot belonging to Externato Oliveira Martins. A demonstration of the robot at 13th National Robotics event held in Lisbon between 24th and 28th April 2013.

Click to expand...

In Hollywood, humanoid robots can do just about anything, including attempt to take over the world. In the real world, however, these bots struggle to do what humans do with great ease, in minutes, things like walking over piles of rubble, getting in and out of cars, moving through doorways and picking up and dropping debris.

For years scientists have tried to overcome these limitations in hopes of using the robots in the rubble of disasters similar to the World Trade Center collapse or the Fukushima power planet meltdown. Finally, scientists’ creations are starting to become more reliable as search and rescue operators. Read the full story at sciencenews.org:
"Designing robots to help in a disaster"
DARPA's Robotics Challenge inspires new catastrophe-relief technology

by Meghan Rosen
December 3, 2014

One of these bots called RoboSimian ditches some aspects of being humanoid altogether, taking on a more apelike appearance. It can crawl and roll and has mechanized fingers specifically designed for gripping things and turning them or lifting them.

Another of the bots takes a Terminator-like look and has already mastered several tricky tasks though impossible to perform, such as opening doors and scooting through them and picking up tools to use to punch through walls.

These tasks and others are part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s robotics challenge, which is driving research into robots that can operate in disaster zones. The finals of this competition are slated for summer of 2015, and it’s here that the bots have to go a step farther than what they’ve already done. They have to master several tasks in just an hour, and, they have to do it without being attached to a power cord.

Despite who wins the finals, engineers say that their creations aren’t yet ready for full-blown disaster search and rescue. But there’s still a lot at stake. The best bot, and its operators, take home a $2 million prize, and they will definitely have an excuse for showboating at the end of the day.

Video: DRCihmcRobotics/JPL-Caltech, NASA
Illustration: James Provost
Reported by Meghan Rosen
Produced by Ashley Yeager

Click to expand...

Robots to the Rescue! JPL’s RoboSimian and Surrogate Robots are here to Help

JPL has been engaged in several programs over the last couple of years that have developed new robots and software that can help out in terrestrial disaster scenarios or hazardous environments. In particular, the RoboSimian and Surrogate sibling robots have been designed to move through human environments after humans have had to evacuate and execute key manipulation tasks that will ameliorate the situation. RoboSimian will be put to the test against an international field of robotic competitors at the DARPA Robotics Challenge this June 5-6 at the Pomona Fairplex in California.

Speaker: Brett Kennedy - Supervisor, Robotic Vehicles and Manipulators Group, JPL

Click to expand...

Prof. Riaan Stopforth presents his research in the fields of Search and Rescue Robots and Mechatronics

Click to expand...

Short video of the DISASTER robot designed by MISL as part of ESET STEM outreach and recruiting for demonstration purposes.

Click to expand...

Three students from Bengaluru under the guidance of their teacher have invented a robot that can be used to rescue children who fall into open bore wells.

Click to expand...

A group of researchers from MIT and the NASA Langley Research Center has developed an autonomous system for a fleet of quadrotor drones that enables them to search collaboratively under dense forest canopies using only on-board computation and wireless communication. No GPS is required.

Click to expand...