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Topic Name: Rescue Robot and Rescue System: Tadokoro Laboratory

Category: Robotics

Research persons: Tadokoro Laboratory team

Location: Tadokoro Laboratory, Tohoku University, Japan

Details

The Great Hanshin Awaji earthquake happened in 1995 led to our eventual focus on rescue robotics and rescue systems.We started the research infrastructure and standard problems so that the wide variety of researchers can contribute. The international institute of rescue robots and system (IRS) has been the central pillar of the national project for disaster prevention dubbed to DDT. RoboCup Rescue and IEEE TC on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics were also started, and they are boosting disaster response robotics, which is one of the major applications of robotics.

Rescue Robot Systems for Collapsed Buildings
A search and rescue robot system, we are developping human interface systems and intelligent control algorithms which could be applied to various types of robots for extreme environments.

Our technology are aimed at basic robotic technology for extreme environment robotics and advanced efficiency for rescue systems. See figure 2

Autonomous Control for Rescue Robots
We are developing autonomous control algorithms for rescue robot systems. The algorithms enable the operators to concentrate on searching victims by relieving manual operations for avoiding obstacles or climbing up steps.

The algorithms are not dependent on visual systems or distance sensors. They are based on contact, posture and kinesthetic information, wihch makes the algorithm robust in any environments. See figure 1

The Compound Eye Camera System
We are developing the system which can combine several CMOS cameras into a small unit. The unit has a image processing core and an ethernet controller so that it can easily connect with other computers. This technology enables robots with a large amount of cameras installed on it. Not just 10 or 20 cameras, even a robot with 100 eyes are being realized. See figure 3

Note for Rescue robot
A rescue robot is a robot that has been designed for the purpose of aiding rescue workers. Common situations that employ rescue robots are mining accidents, urban disasters, hostage situations, and explosions. One notable use of rescue robots was in the search for victims and survivors in the remnants of the World Trade Centre . The benefits of rescue robots to these operations include reduced personnel requirements, reduced fatigue, and access to otherwise unreachable areas.

Note for disaster
A disaster (from Middle French désastre, from Old Italian disastro, from the Greek pejorative prefix dis- bad + aster star) is the impact of a natural or man-made hazards that negatively affects society or environment. The word disaster's root is from astrology: this implies that when the stars are in a bad position a bad event will happen.In contemporary academia, disasters are seen as the effect of hazards on vulnerable areas. Hazards that occur in areas with low vulnerability do not result in a disaster; as is the case in uninhabited regions.

About Robocup Rescue Real Robot League
The Robocup Rescue Real Robot League competition is an international evaluation symposium for the Rescue Robotics which studies future standards for robotic infrastructure built to support human welfare. At each match a team of multiple (autonomous or tele-operated) robots moves inside the test arena, which divided into thee regions of increasing difficulty levels, searching for victims and building a map of the surrounding environment and victims locations that is transmitted to the operator station. Currently the NIST USAR arena has been used in several Robocup Rescue and AAAI competitions.

About IEEE Transactions on Computers
The IEEE Transactions on Computers (TC) is a monthly journal published by the IEEE Computer Society. It contains peer-reviewed articles and other contribitions in the area of computer design by computer scientists. It is intended for researchers, developers, educators and technical managers in the computer field. It is widely considered to be one of the leading journals in the area.Areas of interst for the journal include, but are not limited to: computer organizations and architectures; operating systems, software systems, and communication protocols; real-time systems and embedded systems; digital devices, computer components, and interconnection networks; specification, design, prototyping, and testing methods and tools; performance, fault tolerance, reliability, security, and testability; case studies and experimental and theoretical evaluations; and new and important applications and trends.

About Great Hanshin Earthquake
The Great Hanshin Earthquake or Kobe earthquake as it is more commonly known overseas, was an earthquake in Japan that measured 7.3 on the Richter magnitude scale and 6.8 on the Moment magnitude scale. It occurred on January 17, 1995 at 5:46:46 a.m. in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and lasted for approximately 20 seconds. The focus of the earthquake was located 16km beneath its epicenter, on the northern end of Awaji Island, 20 km away from the city of Kobe(a very populated city) with a population of 1.5 million. This is in the middle of the fault zone of the Pacific, the Eurasian and the Philippine tectonic plates.
Approximately 6,434 people (final estimate as of 2006), mainly in Kobe, lost their lives as a result of the earthquake. Because Kobe was the closest major city to the epicentre of the earthquake, it was hit by the strongest shock waves; the earthquake was felt less strongly in cities further away. It was the worst earthquake in Japan since the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, which claimed 140,000 lives. It caused approximately ten trillion yen or $200 billion USD in damage, 2.5% of Japan's GDP at the time. It listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the "costliest natural disaster to befall any one country."