A Versatile Stair-Climbing Robot for Search and Rescue Applications
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For disaster mitigation as well as for urban search and rescue (USAR) missions, it is often necessary to place sensors or cameras into dangerous or inaccessible areas to get a better situation awareness for the rescue personnel, before they enter a possibly dangerous area. Robots are predestined to this task, but the requirements for such mobile systems are demanding. They should be quick and agile and, at the same time, be able to deal with rough terrain and even to climb stairs. The latter is always required if the rescue personnel has to get access to higher floors inside a building. A rugged, waterproof and dust-proof corpus, and, if possible, the ability to swim, are only a few of many requirements for such robots. With those requirements in mind, the hybrid legged-wheeled robot ASGUARD was developed. This robot is able to cope with stairs, very rough terrain, and is able to move fast on flat ground. We will describe a versatile adaptive controller, based only on proprioceptive data. An additional inclination feedback is used to make the controller versatile for flat ground as well as for steep slopes and stairs. An attachable float provided, the robot is able to swim, using the same locomotion approach. By using twenty compliant legs, which are mounted around four individually rotating hip-shafts, we use an abstract model of quadruped locomotion. For the control design, four independent pattern generators are used. In contrast to many other hybrid legged-wheeled robots, we use the direct proprioceptive feedback in order to modify the internal control loop, thus adapting the model of the motion pattern. For difficult terrains, like slopes and stairs, we use a phase-adaptive approach which is using directly the proprioceptive data from the legs.Keywords:
Climb
Search and rescue
Stairs
Stair climbing
Rescue robot
Legged robot
Robot locomotion
Climbing
Rescue robots that can penetrate into narrow gaps in the rubble, create and maintain spaces for rescuers after earthquakes are urgently needed in search and rescue missions. This paper proposes two novel rescue robots, including a cutting robot and a jack robot, which are used to cut obstacles and jack up heavy debris in hazardous locations and in narrow spaces, where rescuers cannot work or approach. Firstly, a multi-linked tracked, or snake-like rescue robot platform is designed, which is composed of modular crawler vehicles connected by active and passive joints with three degrees of freedom. This rescue robot platform has high mobility on irregular terrains and the ability to move into narrow collapsed structures. Then, portable rescue tools including an electric cutter and a novel electric screw jack are designed. In order to perform operations to the tools, manipulators with multi degrees of freedom are also developed. Consequently, the cutting robot and jack robot are realized by equipping the corresponding rescue tool and manipulator in the rescue robot platform. Finally, field tests of the two rescue robots operating on different terrains and performing rescue missions are carried out in the national training base for urban search and rescue. The results validated the mobility, cutting and lift-up capacity of the two rescue robots. The experiments show that they might play some role in rescue operations.
Rescue robot
Search and rescue
Lift (data mining)
Web crawler
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The interest in robots in the urban search and rescue (USAR) field has increased the last two decades. The idea is to let robots move into places where human rescue workers cannot or, due to high p ...
Rescue robot
Search and rescue
Teleoperation
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Abstract Rescue robots have proved to be an extremely useful work partner for urban search and rescue (USAR) missions. Human rescuers who carry out these missions frequently enter dangerous zones to search for survivors; however, due to the unstable nature of collapsed buildings or objects, their lives may also be threatened. For this reason, in order to reduce life-threatening risks, rescue robots are deployed to carry out the job instead. Rescuers can now operate the robots at a safe place while the missions are carried out. When the robots have gathered enough information about the location of the victims and data about their physical conditions, rescuers can then enter the disaster site with enough knowledge to avoid harm and rescue the victims in the shortest time possible. In this paper, we introduce examples of 'effective multiple robot cooperative activities' and 'a study of the number of robots and operators in a multi-robot team' from our experiences gained from participating in RoboCup Rescue competitions. Keywords: RESCUEROBOTSCOOPERATIVE ACTIVITIESMULTI-ROBOT TEAM
Search and rescue
Rescue robot
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Rescue robot
Search and rescue
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The purpose of the AAAI-2002 Robot Rescue event is to challenge researchers to design useful robotic systems for urban search and rescue (USAR). The competition rules are written to simulate a real rescue response in a simulated disaster environment developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. This article provides an overview of the current state of the art for USAR robotics, an overview of the AAAI-2002 Robot Rescue event, and a discussion of the future of the Robot Rescue event.
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Search and rescue
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In Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) operations the search for survivors must occur before rescue operations can proceed. Two methods that can be used to search in rubble are trained search dogs and specialized response robots (sometimes called rescue robots). Rescue robots are used to collect information about trapped people within a disaster like a collapsed building. Information from them can help first responders plan and execute a rescue effort. The main challenge for these robots is the restrictions placed on their mobility by challenging rubble surfaces. While current research in this area attacks this challenge through mechanical design, good solutions remain elusive. This paper presents a new method for dispersing response robots called Canine Assisted Robot Deployment (CARD). CARD's approach utilizes USAR dogs to deliver robots close to a trapped human detected by the dog. This method exploits the canine ability to find survivors using their olfactory sensors and agility. Once a dog carrying a small robot has found a casualty, the robot can be dropped and begin exploring. Initial experiments and results are described in this paper.
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Search and rescue
Rubble
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Although current urban search and rescue (USAR) robots are little more than remotely controlled cameras, the end goal is for them to work alongside humans as trusted teammates. Natural language communications and performance data are collected as a team of humans works to carry out a simulated search and rescue task in an uncertain virtual environment. Conditions are tested emulating a remotely controlled robot versus an intelligent one. Differences in performance, situation awareness (SA), trust, and workload are measured. The Intelligent robot condition resulted in higher levels of performance and operator SA.
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Search and rescue
Human–robot interaction
Situation Awareness
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Urban Search And Rescue (USAR) is a time critical task since all survivors have to be rescued within the first 72 hours. One goal in Rescue Robotics is to support emergency response by mixed-initia ...
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Rescue robot
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Urban search and rescue (USAR) operations can be extremely dangerous for human rescuers during disaster response. Human task forces carrying necessary tools and equipment and having the required skills and techniques, are deployed for the rescue of victims of structural collapse. Instead of sending human rescuers into such dangerous structures, it is hoped that robots will one day meet the requirements to perform such tasks so that rescuers are not at risk of being hurt or worse. Recently, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, created reference test arenas that simulate collapsed structures for evaluating the performance of autonomous mobile robots performing USAR tasks. At the same time, the NIST Industrial Autonomous Vehicles Project has been studying advanced 3D range sensors for improved robot safety in warehouses and manufacturing environments. Combined applications are discussed in this paper where advanced 3D range sensors also show promise during USAR operations toward improved robot performance in collapsed structure navigation and rescue operations.
Search and rescue
Rescue robot
NIST
Human–robot interaction
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