Showing papers on "Rescue robot published in 2014"

Soft Robotics: New Perspectives for Robot Bodyware and Control

Abstract: The remarkable advances of robotics in the last fifty years, which represent an incredible wealth of knowledge, are based on the fundamental assumption that robots are chains of rigid links. The use of soft materials in robotics, driven not only by new scientific paradigms (biomimetics, morphological computation, and others), but also by many applications (biomedical, service, rescue robots, and many more), is going to overcome these basic assumptions and makes the well-known theories and techniques poorly applicable, opening new perspectives for robot design and control.The current examples of soft robots represent a variety of solutions for actuation, and control. Though very first steps, they have the potential for a radical technological change. Soft robotics is not just a new direction of technological development, but a novel approach to robotics, unhinging its fundamentals, with the potential to produce a new generation of robots, in the support of humans in our natural environments.

Autonomous drones for assisting rescue services within the context of natural disasters

Abstract: Information plays a key role to correctly handle consequences resulting from natural disasters. Discharging rescue teams from gathering that information, and automatically guiding rescue teams to most urgent sub-situations is an open issue in which mini-drones can be useful. Yet, the control of such vehicles is not straight forward to users and can be time consuming. Thus, our contribution is to bring autonomy to drones: to fly autonomously, e.g., scanning and covering a given area, and to realize some tasks (e.g., identifying groups of disabled persons). Last but not least, autonomous drones shall be able to perform both outdoor and indoor missions.

A learning-based semi-autonomous controller for robotic exploration of unknown disaster scenes while searching for victims.

Abstract: Semi-autonomous control schemes can address the limitations of both teleoperation and fully autonomous robotic control of rescue robots in disaster environments by allowing a human operator to cooperate and share such tasks with a rescue robot as navigation, exploration, and victim identification. In this paper, we present a unique hierarchical reinforcement learning-based semi-autonomous control architecture for rescue robots operating in cluttered and unknown urban search and rescue (USAR) environments. The aim of the controller is to enable a rescue robot to continuously learn from its own experiences in an environment in order to improve its overall performance in exploration of unknown disaster scenes. A direction-based exploration technique is integrated in the controller to expand the search area of the robot via the classification of regions and the rubble piles within these regions. Both simulations and physical experiments in USAR-like environments verify the robustness of the proposed HRL-based semi-autonomous controller to unknown cluttered scenes with different sizes and varying types of configurations.

Development of Search-and-rescue Robots for Underground Coal Mine Applications

Abstract: Rescue missions after coal mine accidents are highly risky and sometimes impossible for rescuers to perform. To decrease the risk to rescuers, two generations of tracked mobile robots have been designed and developed to replace the rescuers. In this paper, we present the design iterations with experiments carried out in training sites for rescuers and in working coal mines, and we summarize the design and development experiences of the mobile robots for such rescue missions. In coal mine rescue robots, the explosion-proof and waterproof designs are adapted to the explosive and wet environments, while the suspension systems are adapted to the unstructured working environments. The design and development experiences may provide a reference for designing and developing future mobile robot systems for coal mine accident rescue missions.

Three-dimensional thermography mapping for mobile rescue robots

Abstract: In urban search and rescue situations, a 3D map obtained using a 3D range sensor mounted on a rescue robot is very useful in determining a rescue crew’s strategy. Furthermore, thermal images captured by an infrared camera enable rescue workers to effectively locate victims. The objective of this study is to develop a 3D thermography mapping system using a 3D map and thermal images; this system is to be mounted on a tele-operated (or autonomous) mobile rescue robot. The proposed system enables the operator to understand the shape and temperature of the disaster environment at a glance. To realize the proposed system, we developed a 3D laser scanner comprising a 2D laser scanner, DC motor, and rotary electrical connector. We used a conventional infrared camera to capture thermal images. To develop a 3D thermography map, we integrated the thermal images and the 3D range data using a geometric method. Furthermore, to enable fast exploration, we propose a method for thermography mapping while the robot is in motion. This method can be realized by synchronizing the robot’s position and orientation with the obtained sensing data. The performance of the system was experimentally evaluated in real-world conditions. In addition, we extended the proposed method by introducing an improved iterative closest point (ICP) scan matching algorithm called thermo-ICP, which uses temperature information. In this paper, we report development of (1) a 3D thermography mapping system and (2) a scan matching method using temperature information.

Physical indicators of cyber attacks against a rescue robot

Abstract: Responding to an emergency situation is a challenging and time critical procedure. The primary goal is to save lives and this is directly related to the speed and efficiency at which help is provided to the victims. Rescue robots are able to benefit an emergency response procedure by searching for survivors, providing access to inaccessible areas and establishing an on-site communication network. This paper investigates how a cyber attack on a rescue robot can adversely affect its operation and impair an emergency response operation. The focus is on identifying physical indicators of an ongoing cyber attack, which can help to design more efficient detection and defense mechanisms. A number of experiments have been conducted on an Arduino based robot, under different cyber attack scenarios. The results show that the cyber attack's effects have physical features that can be used in order to improve the robot's robustness against this type of threat.

Utilization of Robot Systems in Disaster Sites of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake

Abstract: In this paper, we report our activities in the real disaster areas damaged by the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake. From March 18–21, 2011, we tried to apply a ground rescue robot to the real disaster sites at Aomori Prefecture and Iwate Prefecture. On March 18, we carried out inspection mission in a damaged gymnasium. From March 19–21, we went to other sites to identify possibility of usage of robots, and we found the potential needs for not only ground robots but also underwater robots. Then, after the first activity we established a joint United States-Japanese team for underwater search. From April 19–23, 2011 the joint team brought four ROVs to Miyagi Prefecture for port inspection and to Iwate Prefecture for searching for submerged bodies. The joint team returned to Miyagi Prefecture October 22–26 with an AUV and two ROVs for cooperative debris mapping needed to assist with resuming fishing. Based on these experiences, we discuss the effectiveness and problems of applying the rescue robot in the real disaster sites.

KAIRO 3: A modular reconfigurable robot for search and rescue field missions

Abstract: Search and rescue field missions, especially in environments which are dangerous for humans, increasingly requires the usage of robust and flexible robots. We describe the development of the modular reconfigurable robot KAIRO 3 focusing on applications in search and rescue, inspection and maintenance. After a short retrospect of previous generations of modular robots, the latest design of KAIRO 3 is presented. In particular, enhancements of the mechatronics and the control software are shown. Furthermore, the necessity to increase the flexibility of search and rescue robots will be demonstrated. To comply with this requirement, we utilized reconfiguration and adaptation of modular robots. Finally, the field results of applying KAIRO 3 at a civil protection field exercise are discussed.

Methodology for study of human-robot social interaction in dangerous situations

Abstract: Applications of robotics in dangerous domains such as search and rescue require new methodology for study of human-robot interaction. Perceived danger evokes unique human psycho-physiological factors that influence perception, cognition and behavior. Human first responders are trained for victim psychology. Apart from real-life instances of disasters, studies of robots in this environment are difficult to perform safely and systematically with sufficient controls, fidelity, and in a manner that permits exact replication. Consequently, the trend to deploy rescue robots, for example, is proceeding largely without benefit of knowing whether human victims will readily cooperate with robot rescuers. The capability to deal with unique victim psychology has not been a testable requirement. We report on the methodology of an on-going study that uses virtual reality to provide a feature-rich immersive environment that is sufficient to evoke fear-related psychological response, provides simulation capability for robots, and enables systematic study trials with automated data collection via an embedded scripting language. The methodology presented provides an effective way to study human interaction with intelligent agents embodied as robots in application domains that would otherwise be impossible in the real world.

Mobile Rescue Robot for Human BodyDetection in Rescue Operation of Disaster

Abstract: Many areas of world are getting affected due to natural calamity. Disasters are exceptional & unstoppable events that are either man made or natural, such as terrorist attacks, earthquakes, wildfires and floods etc. [1]. Disasters create emergency situations to provide basic services to the victims must be coordinated quickly. Many times we observe that many people dies by trapping in these disasters but the people also dies on large scale just because they didn’t get help at instant time or the help provided to them is late. This paper propose an mobile robot based on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) which is designed for human existence & detection in an unmanned area can be done only by an automated system. This system proposed a monitoring system using sensors unit and camera module to recording, analyze conditions of human body and transmit data [3]. Mobile robots perform cooperative Simultaneous human body localization function and communicate over the WSN. The main objective of this Paper is to rescue more & more number of people from the adverse condition.

Plane-based object categorisation using relational learning

Abstract: We use Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) to learn classifiers for generic object recognition from point clouds, as generated by 3D cameras, such as the Kinect Each point cloud is segmented into planar surfaces Each subset of planes that represents an object is labelled and predicates describing those planes and their relationships are used for learning Our claim is that a relational description for classes of 3D objects can be built for robust object categorisation in real robotic application To test the hypothesis, labelled sets of planes from 3D point clouds gathered during the RoboCup Rescue Robot competition are used as positive and negative examples for an ILP system The robustness of the results is evaluated by 10-fold cross validation In addition, common household objects that have curved surfaces are used for evaluation and comparison against a well-known non-relational classifier The results show that ILP can be successfully applied to recognise objects encountered by a robot especially in an urban search and rescue environment

RoboCup Rescue Simulation Innovation Strategy

Abstract: The RoboCup rescue simulation competitions have been held since 2001. The experience gained during these competitions has supported the development of multi-agent and robotics based solution for disaster mitigation. The league consists of three distinct competitions. These competitions are the agent competition, the virtual robots competition, and the infrastructure competition. The main goal of the infrastructure competition is to increase every year the challenge and to drive the innovation of the league, while the agent and virtual robot competition are focused on developing intelligent agents and robot control systems that can cope with those challenges. This paper provides an overview on the current state-of-the-art in the league and developments and innovations planned for the future.

Underwater rescue robot

Abstract: The invention discloses an underwater rescue robot which comprises a frame structure, an electronic cabin group, a searchlighting system, a monitoring system, a positioning system, an operating system, a propelling system and a floatage module, wherein the propelling system comprises a left-front horizontal propeller, a right-front horizontal propeller, a left-back horizontal propeller, a right-back horizontal propeller, and a vertical propeller located at the middle of the robot, and the propelling system is used for providing power to the robot. By using the four horizontal propellers, the underwater rescue robot realizes advancing and retreating, turning and side-moving actions. The underwater rescue robot has the beneficial effects that the robot is simple in structure, flexible in movement and strong in power, and can be widely applied to resource exploration, routing inspection of structures and facility equipment, detection of channels, barrier removal, rescue of persons falling in water, searching of shipwrecks in water, fishing of vehicles and articles falling in water, and finding of underwater appointed articles after disaster accidents occur.

Rescue robot three-dimensional environment map real-time construction method

Abstract: The invention discloses a rescue robot three-dimensional environment map real-time construction method. According to the method, an efficient speeded up robust feature (SURF) algorithm is adopted to carry out recognition and matching of feature points; next, an interval analysis method is proposed, roughly matched pose transformation matrixes are generated. The method has good robustness and can contain all possible values under the situation that one set of constraint conditions are given. In order to overcome the defect that the iterative process probably can not converge the globally optimal solution through an ICP algorithm, an improved closest point select method is proposed: for a measure point in a point cloud A, three points, closest to the measure point, in a point cloud B are solved to form a plane, an intersection of normal vector passing the measurement point in the plane and the plane is regarded as the closest point, and consequently the accuracy of the algorithm is well improved. In addition, the approach combining an inertial management unit (IMU), odometer data and the pose transformation matrixes is adopted, so that the algorithm has better robustness, and accurate location can be achieved under the condition that feature point matching is unsuccessful or the environment dynamically changes.

AGaPaS: A new approach for search-and-rescue-operations at sea:

Abstract: An innovative, satellite-guided search-and-rescue-system will be presented. This system utilises an autonomous rescue vessel to retrieve overboard personnel. The system acts instantaneously, which significantly increases the chance of survival. It was developed for use on special ships or offshore platforms, where workers are subject to adverse weather conditions and overboard personnel are often discovered too late. A substantial challenge is the automation of the autonomously acting rescue vehicle as well as its integration into the superior search-and-rescue-process. To ensure the fastest possible approach to the casualty without endangering the person, a cascaded control concept has been designed. Two-degree-of-freedom control concepts are used to separate the tracking performance from the disturbance rejection. The inner speed control structure is divided into two parts and consists of the control structure itself with an in-line allocation to the device configuration. The contribution mainly address...

Pipeline inspection and borewell rescue robot

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to give an innovative concept to handle the bore well rescue operations without human intervention and to inspect any type of leakage in the pipe. Normal operation of child rescue is done by using big machines with large manpower involvement. It takes more time to rescue a child from the bore well and to check any kind of irregularities in pipe. Wheeled leg mechanism is employed in this design to go inside the pipe. The legs are circumferentially and symmetrically spaced out 120 o apart. The robot is made adaptive so that it can adjust its legs according to the pipeline dimensions. This structural design makes it possible to have the adaptation to the diameter of pipe and to have adjustable attractive force towards the walls of pipe. In this project, the condition of trapped child is captured with USB Camera and monitored on PC. LM-35 Temperature Sensor and 16X2 LCD are interfaced with PIC 16F877A microcontroller to sense the temperature inside the bore well and to display it respectively. The microcontroller stores the sensed data and displays it on the LCD. The robot structure consists of power supply, switch pad and gear motors. Adding a claw or gripper was the initial hurdle for which additional power supply and DC gear motor were needed. The microcontroller is not sufficient to give the sufficient amount of current to the multiple gear motors, so in spite of using motor driver, direct supply is given to gear motors using switch pad as its control centre enables the robot to work smoothly. The project is intended to reduce the risk involved during the child rescue operation by analyzing the situation and also to provide an option detect any leakage inside the pipe.

Hazardous gas detecting rescue robot in coal mines

Abstract: Rescue operation in coal mine is extremely dangerous due to several factors. It is particularly very harmful for the rescuers to get into the coal mine tunnel in disaster without the prior knowledge of environment because the subsequent explosions may likely to occur at any time it is therefore essential to detect the explosive environment details such as toxic gases, high temperatures and also to perform a visual inspection of miners, trapped in collapsed tunnel through a wireless camera. These details will help the rescuers to make a preparatory plan and to equip themselves for carrying the rescue operation defensively. This paper designs a rescue robot for coal mines. It is composed of a mechanism to bear the rest of the subsystems and also to assist the locomotion, a control system to control and a communication system to transfer the environment data acquired through the camera and other sensors. Also it can carry some food and medicine to the miners trapped in the disaster. With the help of this mobile robot, we reduce the loss due to coal mine disaster and efficient rescue operation can be carried out.

Development of robotic spreader for earthquake rescue

Abstract: Urban search and rescue robots are designed to locate and save the survivors in earthquake areas. This paper presents a novel robotic system, which is aimed to spread a narrow gap and open a new space to release buried survivors from pressure as temporary supports. Also, the robot can make spaces for working and moving courses for other rescue robots and tools. This robot consists of a spreader tool and a mobile unit. The spreader tool drived by hydraulic actuator can spreads the gap from 3cm to 20cm with 1000kg payload. The mobile unit is a multi-tracked mechanism to enforce the mobility on rugged terrains. The experimental results validate the lift capacity and mobility of the robotic spreader.

Using directional antennas as sensors to assist fire-fighting robots in large scale fires

Abstract: Humans will replace human labor with new robotics technologies, especially where humans can be placed in danger situations or task domains Evolving sensor and robotic technologies allow the transfer of humans from mundane, dangerous or difficult tasks, leaving robots to apply their specific capabilities to replace human's daily routines or hazardous tasks Commonly, humans work in teams to resolve difficult scenarios, such as the aftermath of some natural or man-made disaster Communication between each and every team member is critical to resolve relief efforts or remediation, in most disasters This research presents robotic technology developed to remediate the long lead time to re-establish or develop network infrastructure in the case of a disaster situation The specific application and test domain of this research, is with fire fighting

Towards Highly Reliable Autonomy for Urban Search and Rescue Robots

Abstract: Participating in the RoboCup Rescue Real Robot League competition for approximately 5 years, the members of Team Hector Darmstadt have always focused on robot autonomy for Urban Search and Rescue (USAR). In 2014, the team won the RoboCup RRL competition. This marked the first time a team with a strong focus on autonomy won the championship. This paper describes both the underlying research and open source developoments that made this success possible as well as ongoing work focussed on increasing rescue robot performance.

Design and simulation of bore well rescue robot - advanced

Abstract: In the past few years, there have been several accidents of children falling into abandoned bore wells in India. Abandoned bore wells that have turned into death pits for children. The problem is all over India. Rescue teams spend hours and sometimes days in futile attempts to save these little kids. A lot of money is also spent in these missions. In most cases they are unable to save the kids. Such events have happened umpteen times in the past, and every time either the government or the bureaucracy is blamed. The rescue process to save the child from bore well is a long and complicated process now. The rescue team tries to approach the victim from a parallel well that take about 20-60 hours to dig. This complicated process makes 70% of the rescue operations fail. Very few of the victims have been saved in such accidents. Recently some autonomous robots came on to screen to take out the trapped body in a systematic way. But the question rises, why these bots are not in action in the real world. This brings out safety that how far the robot handles the child safely. The rescue operation mainly consists of three processes; Approaching the Child, Handling the body, Taking child out of the well. A regular autonomous robot could easily perform the first and third operations. These bots can make up these two steps within few minutes. But there is a great chance for injury of victim as they try hooking up body organs and cloths. Our Project deals with extreme Safe Handling of the victim. The design of handling system is made in such a way that the baby/victim never gets hurt and the robot itself provides some pretreatment to make the baby survive till the end of operation. Our Robot design constitutes a best Ergonomic Design and performs safest rescue operation.

Path Planning for Coalmine Rescue Robot based on Hybrid Adaptive Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm

Abstract: For the problem with imprecise optimal solution and reduced convergence efficiency of basic artificial fish swarm algorithm (BAFSA) in the late, the adaptive enhanced prey behavior of artificial fish and the segmented adaptive strategy of artificial fish’s view and step were designed. The hybrid adaptive artificial fish swarm algorithm (HAAFSA) was structured by the adaptive enhanced prey behavior and the segmented adaptive strategy of artificial fish’s view and step, which have been verified on research. According to the characteristics of the coalmine rescue environment, the path planning environment model was established in two-dimensional plane and the optimization constraints conditions were disposed by detecting the distance between path sections and barriers. The HAAFSA was applied to coalmine rescue robot path planning. Simulation results showed that the HAAFSA could improve the performance of the optimal path.

Rescue-robot show-down

Abstract: The paper presents the most ambitious DARPA (U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) robot R&D program yet. Called the DARPA Robotics Challenge, or DRC, it aims to accelerate the development of robots that can help humans, not only with nuclear emergencies but also with fires, floods, earthquakes, chemical spills, and other kinds of natural and man-made disasters. DARPA (some call it the mad science division of the Pentagon) organized the DRC as a kind of Olympic decathlon for robots, open to teams from anywhere on the globe. But instead of running, jumping, and throwing things, the robots will score points by performing various tasks in a simulated industrial disaster. Picture hulking machines driving vehicles, using power tools, and breaking through walls. And instead of a gold medal, the winning team will take home a US $2 million cash prize.

Dynamic analysis for the leg mechanism of a wheel-leg hybrid rescue robot

Abstract: The inverse dynamic of the leg with a (2-UPS+U)R series-parallel mechanism of the hybrid rescue robot is analyzed in this paper. First, the constrained relationships in the leg are determined, and the 6×6 Jacobian matrices of the series-parallel leg are derived and presented. Second, the velocity, acceleration, angular velocity and acceleration of center of mass in each link are solved and the dynamic model of the series-parallel leg is established with virtual work principle and its standard Lagrange formula are presented in detail. In the end, the numerical simulation of the series-parallel leg is carried out. The dynamic equations of the leg lay the foundation for a number of computational algorithms that are useful in the later control, simulation, animation and built the hybrid rescue robot prototype.

Evaluation of Head Gaze Loosely Synchronized With Real-Time Synthetic Speech for Social Robots

Abstract: This study demonstrates that robots can achieve socially acceptable interactions using loosely synchronized head gaze-speech acts. Prior approaches use tightly synchronized head gaze-speech, which requires significant human effort and time to manually annotate synchronization events in advance, restricts interactive dialog, or requires that the operator acts as a puppeteer. This paper describes how autonomous synchronization of head gaze can be achieved by exploiting affordances in the sentence structure and time delays. A 93-participant user study was conducted in a simulated disaster site. The rescue robot “Survivor Buddy” generated head gaze for a victim management scenario using a 911 dialog. The study used pre- and postinteraction questionnaires to compare the social acceptance level of loosely synchronized head gaze-speech against tightly synchronized head gaze-speech (manual annotation) and no head gaze-speech conditions. The results indicated that for attributes of Self-Assessment Manikin, i.e., Arousal, Robot Likeability, Human-Like Behavior, Understanding Robot Behavior, Gaze-Speech Synchronization, Looking at Objects at Appropriate Times, and Natural Movement, the loosely synchronized head gaze-speech is similar to tightly synchronized head gaze-speech and preferred to the no head gaze-speech case. This study contributes to a fundamental understanding of the role of social head gaze in social acceptance for human–machine interaction, how social gaze can be produced, and promotes practical implementation in social robots.

RoboCup Rescue Robot League

Abstract: The RoboCup Rescue Robot League (RRL) aims to foster the development of rescue robots that can be used after disasters such as earthquakes. These robots help to discover victims in the collapsed structure without endanger the rescue personnel. The RRL has been held since 2000. The experience gained during these competitions has increased the level of maturity of the field, which allowed to deploy robots after real disasters, e.g. at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. This article provides an overview on the competition and its history. It also highlights the current state of the art, the current challenges and the way ahead.

International Cooperation in Deploying Robots for Disasters: Lessons for the Future from the Great East Japan Earthquake

Abstract: The use of disaster robots in the aftermath of the Great East Japan earthquake serves as an excellent example of international cooperation between agencies, municipalities, universities and industry. However, the earliest use of robots occurred almost a month after the event. A prior study on the eight deployments worldwide in 2010 [1] reported that in four deployments, robots arrived on the scene in an average 0.5 days. These were situations where the authorities either already had robots or had agreements in place with agencies that had robots. In the remaining four incidents, the average time before the robots arrived was 7.5 days (mean 6.5 days). Five of the deployments were for the robot to search for survivors but the average time for the robot to arrive on scene was 4.2 days, well beyond the 3 day period for finding survivors who will return to health. This article uses the experiences of the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) in assisting with the Great East Japan earthquake response and recovery operations to illustrate the barriers to rapid, effective deployment and to make recommendations. CRASAR has been involved in responses to 15 disasters at the request of the appropriate authorities, starting with the 9/11 World Trade Center response in 2001. In 2008, it established the Roboticists Without Border program to identify and train volunteers from the robotics industry to participate in responses. Member companies are asked to donate up to 10 days of their time and their equipment for a response; CRASAR obtains travel funding and on some occasions salary reim-

Experimentation and analysis of time series data for rescue robotics

Abstract: In today’s world, rescue robots are used in various life threatening situations where human help or support is not possible. These robots transfer real time data about the environment continuously. Research is focussed on techniques to analyse real time data to enable Decision Support Systems (DSS) to take timely actions to save lives. This paper discusses preliminary experiments that have been carried out to simulate a set of simple robotic environments. A robot attached with four sensors is used to collect information about the environments as the robot moves in a straight line path. Time series data collected from these experiments are clustered using data mining techniques. Experimental results show recall and precision between 73% to 98%.

The Nonfragile Controller with Covariance Constraint for Stable Motion of Quadruped Search-Rescue Robot

Abstract: The problem of a stable motion for the quadruped search-rescue robots is described as a variance constrained uncertainty in the discrete systems. According to the model structure of the quadruped search-rescue robot, the kinematics of the robot is analyzed on the basis of the D-H parameter. Each joint of the robot angular velocity is planned using the Jacobian matrix, because the angular velocity is directly related to the stability of walking based on the ADAMS simulation. The nonfragile control method with the covariance constraint is proposed for the gait motion control of the quadruped search-rescue robot. The motion state feedback controller and the covariance upper bounds can be given by the solutions of the linear matrix inequalities (LMI), which makes the system satisfy the covariance constrain theory. The results given by LMI indicate that the proposed control method is correct and effective.