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Finished with Minami-sanriku-choy, on to Rikuzen-Takada

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Duh0i7U10W8[/youtube]  We finished yesterday (Wednesday) surveying the “new port” area of Minami-sanriku-choy today, finding debris but all at depths greater than 5m. That means the fishing boats can safely start using that area again. The SARbot and Seamore (and their teams) performed admirably, while the other robots stayed back at the city sports arena that serves as the emergency center. You can see the video of them against the bulldozers stacking up rubble and burning it. We’re in Rikuzen-Takada for the next 2 days.

We were surprised at the lack of cars and other big objects underwater. The lower portions of the town is one rumbled mass of cars, piers, metal pilings, and such all twisted about, so we expected to see at least some of the same in the water. We did find a 15 meter long structure, possibly the framing of one of the unfortunate buildings

Mostly we found the anchor stones for the harbor and some ropes (but none drifting high enough to foul propellers) and lots of small, low debris.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ocMtWPyooA[/youtube]

So, one lesson learned for future research is that we need simulation software that predicts where debris will go after a tsunami or hurricane (different versions since we believe the water behavior is different for those events).

We did not find any victims, which is bittersweet as there are so many people missing and so many families try to reach closure. Minami-sanriku had a population of 20,000 and 2,000 are dead or missing. But it is always so sad to find remains, too easy to see life cut short.

ROVs working in the rain (and snow) at Minami-sanriku-choy

SeaBotix SARbot on a trial run 4/19/11 at Minami-sanriku-choy. Courtesy of Karen Dreger, CRASAR, and NSFWe’re at Minami-sanriku-choy for the first full day of work. Yesterday we put the SeaBotix SARbot in the water in the afternoon in the light rain to conduct a general assessment of the area around the fishing pier and to show the general capabilities. Today we’re back (in the light snow), with the SARbot and the Seamor unit to conduct a coordinated sweep of the area. The Seamor has excellent sonar imaging, while the SARbot has excellent location abilities so the Seamor will spot debris or objects of interest and the SARbot will (later- they are working in separate 100m radii areas) zoom to the approximate location and get the precise location. The SARbot is also estimating the depth of debris- as the fishing boats vital to the economy need 5-10m of clearance.

We haven’t found anything particularly unexpected or dangerous to boats (or victims), but we’ve just started.

Dr. Kimura’s team has been super and we’re enjoying our collaboration!

Press Release: Japan-US team deploys underwater robots to coast

PRESS RELEASE 4/20/11

Japan-US team deploys underwater robots to coast

Points of Contact in Japan:

Dr. Fumitoshi Matsuno, matsuno@me.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Points of Contact in US:

Dr. Robin Murphy, CRASAR, murphy@cse.tamu.edu, via Kimberly Mallet

Joshua Chamot, National Science Foundation, jchamot@nsf.gov, (703) 292-7730

Tim Schnettler, Texas A&M, tschnettler@tamu.edu, 979-458-2277

Vickie Chachere, University of South Florida, (813) 974-6251

A team of research and industry experts with four state-of-the-art small underwater vehicles from the US-based Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue are working with the Japanese-based International Rescue Systems institute to inspect damaged bridges, docks, and pipelines, as well as with victim recovery. The team has initially set up in the devastated city of Minami-sanriku on April 19 and will expand into other areas throughout the week. The suitcase-sized robots have advanced imaging sonars that can penetrate the murky water that often thwarts manual divers. The use of underwater robots for disasters is fairly new and the team hopes the five day deployment will lead to the adoption of marine robots worldwide and to improvements and new research directions.

The remotely operated vehicles, called ROVs,  are extremely small versions similar to the robots used at the BP Oil Spill. They vary in size from the suitcase-sized Seamor to the tiny football-sized AC-ROV to the, making them easy to transport to the ravaged coastline north of Sendai. Three of the robots carry specialized sonars that can see through muddy water and have grippers. The SeaBotix SARbot is designed especially for emergency responders to be able to use to find victims trapped underwater in vehicles.  All of the robots have a tether to allow the operators to control the vehicles in real time and see the sonar and video camera footage.

The field team is led by Prof. Tetsuya Kimura (Nagaoka University of Technology) and  Prof. Robin Murphy (Texas A&M) with funding from the National Science Foundation. CRASAR and IRS are the leading research centers on rescue robotics, with CRASAR deploying robots to disasters worldwide including the 9/11 World Trade Center and Hurricane Katrina. The US members of the team include Dr. Eric Steimle from AEOS Inc., a Florida start-up company specializing in marine environmental monitoring, Jesse Rodocker and Sean Newsome from SeaBotix, a leading manufacturer of ROVs, and Karen Dreger from the University of South Florida’s Center for Ocean Technology. The team members are donating their time and equipment through the CRASAR humanitarian Roboticists Without Borders program.

IRS and CRASAR have held many joint exercises, including one on the day of the earthquake and tsunami at the Disaster City® facilities at Texas A&M. 21 IRS researchers and students had just finished participating in field trials and workshop with CRASAR and were preparing to return to Japan when the quake struck. The IRS members were able to return home and immediately began deploying their ground robots and advising government agencies. They also invited their US colleagues at CRASAR who assembled a team of small, highly portable remotely operated vehicles.

A joint Japan-US press conference in Japan is tentatively scheduled for April 24 and photographs, video of the robots and what they are seeing, and updates will be posted to the CRASAR website daily, as internet connections permit. Videoconference interviews with team members may be possible, again depending on the situation.  Dr. Murphy and other team members will be available for follow up interviews.

SARbot making a test dive on April 19, 2011, photo courtesy of Karen Dreger, CRASAR, & NSF



PRESS RELEASE 4/18/11: Underwater Robots to Help Japan Recovery

Points of Contact:

Dr. Robin Murphy, CRASAR, murphy@cse.tamu.edu, via Ms. Kimberly Mallett (979) 845-8737

Joshua Chamot, National Science Foundation, jchamot@nsf.gov, (703) 292-7730

Tim Schnettler, Texas A&M, tschnettler@tamu.edu, 979-458-2277

Vickie Chachere, University of South Florida, (813) 974-6251

A team of experts and four state-of-the-art small underwater vehicles led by Texas A&M with funding from the National Science Foundation will be working with their Japanese counterparts to help with inspect damaged bridges, docks, and pipelines, as well as with victim recovery.  Restoration of utilities, transportation, and shipping typically depend on inspections by manual divers, who must work in murky waters and in fear of debris being washed into them by the high currents.  Advanced underwater vehicles have been used in the aftermath of Hurricanes Wilma and Ike and the Haiti Earthquake, but little is understood about how these robots can be used for disasters or how they can be designed to be more effective. In order to learn more about these technologies while helping local townships, the International Rescue Systems (IRS) institute in Japan invited the team to assist with an intense five-day effort from April 19-23 around Sendai and Minami-sanriku-cho.

The robots vary in size from the tiny football-sized AC-ROV to the suitcase-sized Seamor, making them easy to transport to the ravaged coastline around Sendai. Three of the robots carry specialized sonars that can see through muddy water and one, the Seabotix SARbot, has a gripper designed especially for rescuing victims trapped underwater.  All of the robots have a tether to allow the operators to see and control the vehicles in real time.

The five person team consists of industry experts from AEOS and Seabotix and researchers from Texas A&M and the University of South Florida’s Center for Ocean Technology. The team is being led by Prof. Robin Murphy, director of the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) at Texas A&M University, and Dr. Eric Steimle from AEOS, a  Florida start-up company specializing in marine environmental monitoring.  The team members are donating their time and equipment through the CRASAR humanitarian Roboticists Without Borders program. CRASAR is the leading organization in the world and has deployed land, sea, and aerial robots to 11 previous disasters including the 9/11 World Trade Center Collapse and Hurricane Katrina.

A joint Japan-US press conference in Japan is tentatively scheduled for April 24 and photographs, video of the robots and what they are seeing, and updates will be posted to the CRASAR website daily, as internet connections permit. Videoconference interviews with team members may be possible, again depending on the situation.  Dr. Murphy and other team members will be available for follow up interviews.

CRASAR now in Japan with the International Rescue Systems institute, heading to Minami-Sanriku-Cho

Our five person, four marine robot team has arrived in Japan to assist the International Rescue Systems Institute (IRS) with inspecting damaged bridges, docks, and pipelines, as well as with victim recovery for five days. We’ll be experimenting with four different suitcase-sized remotely operated vehicles (ROV), smaller versions of the tethered ROVs used at the BP Oil Spill but just as capable.

Dr. Eric Steimle, AEOS, and Karen Dreger of the University of South Florida’s Center for Ocean Technology have brought a Seamor ROV with advanced imaging sonars and a smaller-than-a-soccer-ball AC-ROV with video. Sean Newsome and Jesse Rodocker have brought two Seabotix ROVs, the SARbot which is optimized for responders to put in the water in 3 minutes to save a person trapped underwater and the LBV-300-5, their powerful work horse ROV. I’ll profile each of the platforms in later blogs.

CRASAR logo peeking out from the back of Dr. Kimura's crowded minivan.

We are traveling with funding from the National Science Foundation (thanks!) and Continental and United- thanks to John Chapman and Hiro Donoshita have been extremely helpful with transporting the gear and expediting us through customs, with lots of help from Dr. Anne Emig and Ms. Kazuko Shinohara of NSF.  Dr. Tetsuya Kimura of IRS has made all the travel arrangements within Japan, including the 3 car convoy needed to haul us north to our first mission at the coastal city of Minami-Sanriku-Cho.

Everyone is donating their time and equipment through the Roboticists Without Borders program- really big shout out to Sean, Jesse, Karen, and especially Eric who has been marshaling the ROVs. It’s hard to believe that we’ve got so many top experts and gear to support our Japanese colleagues and people. I’m sure they are going to be able to do good and that we will all learn from their efforts.

Check out the press release for more details or how to contact us.

Back from Japan, expect to return in a week

I’m back from Japan- interesting work going on with robots at Fukushima. CNN is running the story about the T-Hawks, though the picture looks suspiciously like the shot from the fixed wing taken earlier on March 24 by Air Photo Services (and the caption is ambiguous). I’m reluctant to post with what I’ve heard or been working on due to lack of permission or lack of verification, but I believe there are more robots being used in useful, rational ways than the press knows about. The robotics community is pulling together and supporting the efforts discretely, as press is very distracting during a crisis.

Dr. Eric Steimle and I believe that the last pieces are falling into place to allow us to deploy next week to assist IRS with marine vehicles. Lots of work to be done and we’re excited!

CRASAR in Japan! Fukushima, Recovery Operations Update

I’m in Tokyo. CRASAR has had to turn down one request for marine robots,  is responding to another request for marine vehicles for recovery operations, and I’m here without robots to advise on unmanned systems for the Fukushima reactor response.

It was a difficult week as the CRASAR team had to turn down the request of the Port of Hachinohe and nearby surrounding areas to use unmanned marine vehicles. Our colleagues at the International Rescue Systems Institute, particularly Prof. Fumi Matsuno and the Hachinohe Institute of Technology, set up logistics and gave generously  of their time. But delays in approvals and funding (travel exceeded our reserves so we had to get outside funding)  here in the US caused us to be unable to travel, so we lost that opportunity. Dr. Eric Steimle has pulled together an amazing set of five different marine vehicles and sensors from our members and his contacts- all man portable and can go through check through luggage- through our Roboticists Without Borders program. Everyone on the marine team remains on standby.

In the meantime, I was contacted to advise with the use of robots for the Fukushima reactor incident and am here now in Japan. No robots (the authorities have already lined up the ones they want) and I am not getting within 50 miles of the plant.  Just here with our experience in post-disaster inspection with land, marine, and aerial vehicles to help transfer that experience as needed (or IF needed, as sometimes the most helpful thing to do in a disaster is just to stay out of the way). I haven’t checked in with the Public Information Officer so I hope to be able to provide details within the next day.

And Prof. Tetsuya Kimura from IRS has just sent a request for marine vehicles from Minami-Sanriku-Cho!   Our newest member of Roboticists Without Borders, Seabotix, has a distributor in Japan who is looking at coming to join IRS at Minami-Sanriku-Cho immediately. Then the US team would join them with a different, complementary set of marine vehicles when funding and approvals get in place.

So why marine vehicles? Aren’t the Japanese Self Defense Forces and the Marines (I used to be on that group’s technical advisory board- go CBIRF!) with people and ships doing a massive operation? Sure- but they appear to be focusing on victim recovery and from “human assessable” approaches (wading). This still leaves critical infrastructure inspection (bridges, seawalls, navigational channels, pipelines, etc.) undone- all essential to getting the economy back going, to getting shipments of food and water in, and utilities restored. And also there is the recovery of victims under deeper water.

I’ll try to post more as the situation and PIO approvals permit.

In the end, it’s not about the technology, it’s about people. So we all are keeping the Japanese people in our thoughts and prayers- the terrible impact of the disasters, the sacrifices of the Fukushima plant workers,  the awfulness of not being to find or recover the bodies of loved ones- it’s just hard to comprehend.

IRS in Japan uses UGV, CRASAR has more missions but waiting

In the "easy" line of sight part of the gym

We’ve confirmed that the International Rescue Systems Institute used one of the ground robots that was here at Disaster City for our joint workshop to explore a partially collapsed gym on 3-18 and in the meantime have generated more missions for our marine vehicle members at Hachinohe and surrounding ports, complementing new apps for our ground and aerial robots.  Dr. Eric Steimle, our marine vehicle lead for our Roboticists Without Borders program, spent most of yesterday working with various companies and groups such as the Center for Ocean Technology at USF and AUVSI to match up capabilities with needs and with transportation and power logistical constraints. Eric led the marine vehicle effort for CRASAR for our post-Hurricane Wilma and Ike.

CRASAR is working on finalizing logistics and permissions (and hopefully additional funding), we hope to depart soon, the situation at Fukushima permitting.

I’ll provide an update later, but the IRS report echoed iRobot’s comments about using their robots (both are the same size and general capability) for the Fukushima reactors- saying they were glad the doors in the gym were open. Shut or locked doors are major problems for robots operating in “human navigable” spaces, where robots are going where people COULD go, but shouldn’t.

Good job, IRS!!