Disaster search-and-rescue in robot-crazy Japan
Posted 05.14.2009 at 9:13 am
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Helping Hand RoboCue is designed to pluck victims of bomb blasts from spots human rescuers cannot reach
Kiyoshi Ota (Take a closer look!)
No, it’s not a robot uprising. This is the Tokyo Fire Department's Rescue Robot, also known as RoboCue, taking a mock patient to safety as part of a training exercise for dirty-bomb containment and casualty rescue, held late last year in Tokyo.
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Science, japan, june 2009, megapixels, rescue robots, rescuersDesigned by the fire department itself, the search-and-recover ’bot is tethered by a 328-foot cable and equipped with infrared cameras, a megaphone, and ultrasonic sensors that find victims in places where human rescuers cannot go, such as burning houses. It also has an onboard oxygen canister for those who might need it. Two feeler appendages gently load the victim, whether injured by the blast or trampled in the ensuing chaos, onto a sleigh bed before wheeling him safely out. The only drawback: Hauling multiple victims is not possible with this particular model.
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The idea is clever but nothing new. We don't see the whole vehicle in the picture but i have a hunch it'd be bulky. Also on those shopping cart-wheels it won't be able to clear the smallest obstacle, much less entering a burning house or driving over debris and rubble.
I guess this partially functioning prototypes are just steps along the way to something that really works.
I think the ability of dashing in and out of a burning structure carrying a person on his/her shoulders is still a prerogative of human firefighters and rescue personnel.
However, robots are here to stay and i "love" them; I'd just like to see them (the robots) doing robot-like stuff.
Think of a sturdy robot capable of entering a building, clearing flights of stairs, knocking down doors while unleashing the power of its hardware to extinguish the fire so that human firefighters can safely follow and rescue people.
That would probably make risk a little safer.
One thing that makes me nervous about using this... If your leg is broke because a beam fell on it leaving you pinned will this robot jerk the Fun out of the victim. Hmmmm...