Search and Rescue Robots

Thanks to the Hollywood sci-fi movies which have already let people know about the robot word.

But the general perception of public about robots is like fully automated machine which can

move and looks something like human (humanoids) and can communicate in human languages.

If we go into the detail robots are not just humanoids but there are lots of different kinds of

robot. I think any machine which is autonomous and or could be controlled by human being to

work for the benefit of society is robot. But as we have seen in some Hollywood Si-fi not all

robots work for society when they get freedom of doing things.

A humanoid robot (ASIMO)

As right now Japan is considered as the power house of the robotics, thanks to the government

of Japan which spends 3 % of there GDP on research and development on various products

which include robotics field also.

In present world, robot is working in industries to increase production, fighting in battle fields,

toy robots for children, medical robots etc. These robots are in real world and commercially

available. But there is a big list of other robots which are still in development stage or developed

but they not available for commercial purpose.

These robots include humanoids, rescue robots, caring robots etc. Future will be of robots and

recue robots will play a big role in that. R&D is still undergoing and lots of new ideas have come

out to find a better solution to fulfill needs.

The necessary thing which rescue robot needs to do will be:

1- The robot should be flexible to move in small holes , pits , climb stairs..

2- The robot should be able to identify the living thing which needs to be rescued

3- Robot should be able to work in any environmental condition (rain, snow, heat)

4- Robot should be autonomous as well as semi autonomous i.e. (human controller)

5- Robot should carry infra red, thermal imaging, motion sensors, microphone, communication

channel with operator, speakers.

6- Robot should be able to work in water, underwater, surface, climbing tall building and could

work on any terrain.

7- It should be easy to handle and easy to do maintenance.

8- And finally easy to produce and replace. The price is not going to matter that much if we talk

about rescue robots as they can’t be used for common use by common people..

Choice of robot

Now the big thing comes which robot could be capable of doing all these things and below some

of them are compared:

1- Humanoids – Picking up humanoids robot is not a bad idea as when they will reach the

rescuer, rescuer can feel better in seeing a humanoid than any other robot. This can give

confidence and moral support in the disaster time. But our main purpose is to first find the

person and then rescue in case of earth quakes. So in that case humanoids cannot work well as

they humans can do that job also.

2- Bots – Bots are quick movers and flexible enough to move in any terrain. They can take

necessary things to rescuers like food or communication devices, and can keep humans out of

danger also. But bots are quiet big enough to move in small holes and look into it. Bots can work

in any environment and easy to handle also but working in water and underwater could be

difficult task for them right now. As they use sliders to travel so easy to run on rough terrain but

still lacks its searching capacity in pits or holes or climbing on 90 degree of elevation.

3- Flying bots – Using flying bots as rescue robots could be a could idea as they can fly any

where and if there size is small they can even go through small holes. If modified they can work

on water but working underwater needs some R&D. If there size is that much they can give the

information about rescuer by finding but cannot carry extra devices like high def cameras, and

cannot work underwater also. But these could be easy to carry and but less operating time as

due to small size there battery power would be small too.

4- Snake robots – These are newly developed robot which still under R&D phase. I think these

robot could serve well for now and future as rescuers. These robots are flexible and can work

over and under water. These robots are just like snake in all features except they don’t bite

unless we make them to do so. As snakes can go anywhere in deep small holes, can climb trees,

poles, and because of their length they can carry necessary devices required to work as

rescuers. Because of there structure they can work in any terrain like sand , water , snow ,

rocks , building , climbing towers etc. There is present research going on about these robots all

around the world and trends look encouraging.

More Details

Snake robots may one day play a crucial role in search and rescue operations and fire-fighting

where it may either be too narrow or to dangerous for personnel to operate. Properties such as

high terrain ability, redundancy, and the possibility of complete sealing of the body of the robot,

make snake robots very interesting for practical applications and hence as a research topic.

Snake robots are a new type of robots, known also as serpentine robots. As the name suggests,

these robots possess multiple actuated joints thus multiple degrees of freedom. This gives them

superior ability to flex, reach, and approach a huge volume in its workspace with infinite number

of configurations. This redundancy in configurations gives them the technical name: hyper

redundant robots. Ideally, the future snake design will consist of three degree of freedom stages

--- roll, pitch, and extension. Sometimes stages are called bays.

The simplest design that first comes to mind is stacking simple revolute joints as close as

possible to each other and this led to the actuated universal joint design. However these kinds of

designs could be bulky and not appropriate of lots of serpentine robot applications. Another kind

of bulky two DOF joints are pneumatic snakes.

Snake robots have many applications, but are hard to control. A person cannot simply operate

each joint of a snake individually because there are too many. These robots require a motion

planning algorithm. Motion planning for snake robots is difficult because the robots have many

internal degrees of freedom that have to be coordinated to achieve purposeful motion. In motion

planning jargon, this means the snake robots exist in large dimensional configuration spaces.

Current planning techniques for snakes dwell on locomotion (not motion planning) which is

centered around gaits often found in nature that work best on unobstructed planar, but not

necessarily level, environments like parking lots, ramps and open fields. Other locomotion work

dwells on pipe crawling which requires little motion planning.

Simplest snake robot :

In pieces

Assembled robot

Wiring diagram

A hypothetical scenario of search and rescue operation:

Pulling out a 2-meter long tube from under the stretcher in the paramedic ambulance, the

operator opens one end and powers up the system. He / She removes a remote control unit

which has a video screen built into it, fed by the camera from the head of the robot, with a

graphical overlay allowing a range of optional behaviors to be activated. There are also two

joysticks and a variety of other buttons and knobs for controlling subsidiary parameters of the

system. The would-be rescuers carry the tube as close as possible to the wreckage, and slide the

snake robot out of the end of it. A thin composite cable goes from the inside of the tube to the

tail of the snake, supplying power and carrying data in both directions. The operator activates

the snake's locomotion system and moves it forwards. It automatically adapts to the uneven

ground and rises up over small obstacles while maneuvering around the larger ones. Pausing

every few feet to listen for signs of survivors, the snake robot's head relays binaural stereo

sound back to the operator. Hearing no cries for help, the snake is directed towards a 20-cm

wide gap where one house has collapsed and is leaning against another. Approaching the

aperture, the snake transitions to rectilinear motion, and uses infrared distance measuring

devices and flex-sensor whiskers to center it between the walls. As it moves further inside, the

operator switches to the infrared-sensitive camera and illuminates the scene with high-power

LEDs. As the snake progresses, it sweeps the area up ahead with a pyroelectric device to look for

body heat. Its underbody (ventral) scales pull the robot along the ground like a small conveyor

belt, even pushing it through the tangled heaps of cables left by the collapsed building. Then it

reaches a region of shattered plaster and broken rubble, which provides insufficient grip for

forward locomotion. The tether is also pulling on the snake robot's tail, caught as it is on

previous obstructions. At the system's on-screen suggestion, the operator switches the snake

robot to internal power and detaches the tip of the tail by remote control. This now becomes a

base station communicating wirelessly with the snake robot and relaying information back to the

operator. He / She instructs the snake to begin concertina motion in which the snake robot coils

into an s-shaped curve until it can feel the walls of the fallen houses pushing in on it from both

sides. Small scales on the skin of the snake robot grip the walls and allow it to push forwards by

changing the amplitude of its coils in one region while gripping with another. Once through this

difficult area the snake comes to a region of the original floor of the house. The snake swishes its

head from side to side to sweep the area clean of rubble. Using a downward-sensing ultrasonic

device in the chin of the robot, the operator determines that it is possible to make a hole leading

directly to the basement of the building. The snake robot it instructed to detach, from under its

head, a small shaped-explosive charge, which it leaves on the floorboards and slithers back

slightly before detonating the charge and making a 10-cm hole in the floor. Curling its head

downwards through the opening it pushes forwards by a meter or so and then uses its neck to

point its head in a variety of directions looking for survivors. There is a peak detected by the

pyroelectric sensor, and the snake freezes, going silent. The microphones pick up the faint

sounds of breathing and the infrared camera indicates a blob in approximately the direction from

where the sounds originated. The operator pinpoints on a map where the survivor is most likely

to be found. The location is shown in relation to a reconstructed 3-D model of the path taken by

the snake robot, along with the surfaces it sensed. Other rescuers are given the go-ahead to

carefully approach the building as the operator talks to the survivor over a loudspeaker carried

by the snake robot, letting him know that help is one its way and trying to discover the extent of

his injuries.

Rescue and search operation has been finished successfully.

―V2

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