Researchers with their robots from Japan, the United States and the U.S. military participated in a two day workshop conducted at Disaster City in College Station, Texas, on Tuesday, March 8, 2011.
The event allowed teams to perform experiments based on underground mine rescue operation and tunnel exploration.
The teams displayed various types of ground robots, from minuscule tank-like vehicles to metallic snakes, and tested the robot’s capability of navigating through narrow pathways to locate survivors or detain smugglers. The demonstration may result in immediate adoption of small robots for rescuing people trapped after earthquakes and for preventing mine disasters in countries such as Chile and New Zealand.
Co-sponsored by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), the event released RESPOND-R, a $2M test instrument developed by the Texas A&M University with funding from the National Science Foundation.
During the workshop, robots were deployed in extreme conditions created by the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) at Texas A&M University, which has deployed land, air, and sea robots for disastrous situations. CRASAR team members for the Mine Safety and Health Administration have studied underground mine rescue operations.
Source: http://www.jst.go.jp//