I am spending the anniversary of 9/11 at the World Bank Headquarters at the World Reconstruction Conference. I was invited to give a talk on how disaster robots can be used for the recovery phase of disasters (as opposed to the search and rescue/response phase). In many ways, it was the kind of talk I … Continue reading “9/11: Thoughts on the Anniversary of the WTC Disaster and First Use of Robots”
A private drone trying to film a wildfire that has charred nearly six square miles in Northern California briefly disrupted firefighting efforts, although workers had gained the upper hand against the blaze, officials said on Monday. Fire officials spotted the drone over the so-called Sand Fire on Sunday and immediately called police to find the … Continue reading “Toy drone disrupts aircraft fighting California wildfire”
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PpKtrll7Gg[/youtube] The death toll continues to rise in China’s Yunnan Province earthquake and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, families, and responders. The Chinese Army is already using drones to provide responders (as well as geologists and hydrologists) with assessment of damage in the remote, rural areas. In general, ground robots are not … Continue reading “China earthquake: Drone on-site plus other ways robots can help.”
(note: this blog was referenced by New Scientist) The horrendous number of victims at the Soma mine disaster in Turkey continues to grow. We immediately reached out to Turkish officials through Dr. Hasari Celebi at the Gebze Institute of Technology as a guiding force. Less than a year ago I had given a keynote at a … Continue reading “Soma Turkey Mine Disasters: Mine Disasters and Robots”
My book Disaster Robotics (MIT Press, Kindle, and iBook) covers structural inspection, documents 16 cases where robots have been used for structural inspection after disasters (the majority by CRASAR, but I’ve documented all cases I can find reported through April 2013) and has criteria for choosing what robot, what the different work envelopes are, lots … Continue reading “Structural Inspection with Unmanned Vehicles”
euRathlon provides real-world robotics challenges for outdoor robots in demanding scenarios. This year 14 teams qualified to complete. The 5 day event was comprised of different challenges: Day one was “Mobile manipulation for handling hazardous material.” Day two was “Reconnaissance and surveillance in urban structures.” Day three was “Search and rescue in a smoke-filled underground … Continue reading “Winners of the euRathlon 2013 land robotics competition announced!”
It is always difficult to write about 9/11 and the World Trade Center disaster, as the horror of the event still lingers in my mind. For the first years after 9/11, I had little to report on the year in disaster robotics as adoption has been slow. But since 2010, the number of incidents that … Continue reading “September 11: 11 years after the first use of rescue robots”
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION – EARLY REGISTRATIONS CLOSE 15 AUGUST The Response Robotics Summer School (RRSS) is a hands-on summer school on the challenges and Best-in-Class solutions for Response Robotics, with a focus on the challenges posed by Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) and remote handling for response applications. This event is a collaboration between the Curtin … Continue reading “The Response Robotics Summer School 2013 – Early Registrations Closing Soon!”
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION – REGISTRATIONS OPEN! The Response Robotics Summer School (RRSS) is a hands-on summer school on the challenges and Best-in-Class solutions for Response Robotics, with a focus on the challenges posed by Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) and remote handling for response applications. This event is a collaboration between the Curtin University of Technology … Continue reading “The Response Robotics Summer School 2013 – Registrations Open!”
Check out the TIME Magazine special edition “Rise of the Robots”! Daniel Cray started out interviewing us as a sidebar and then wrote a larger article “Search Engines” about rescue robotics in general as well as “Rescue Robots to Borrow” which was about CRASAR and Roboticists Without Borders. Both are great intros to rescue robotics, … Continue reading “CRASAR and RWB Featured in TIME Rise of the Robots special issue!”
