We worked at two sites in the Rikuzen-Takada area after meeting with the Mayor yesterday and then this morning with the City Manager in the city offices overlooking the spectacular bay. The Mayor lost his wife, and the City Manager, his wife and daughter,  in the tsunami as they were at home by the water while they were at work when the wave hit. A reminder of why we’re here- it’s not the technology, it’s about people.

Our hosts, the International Rescue Systems institute, coordinating the search  with the Japanese Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard divers were very enthusiastic about the ROVs because the divers are forbidden to dive under structures or flotsam such as these houses here. But victims may be trapped under that rubble…

This video is from the SARbot (which was able in less than 10 minutes from car stopping to robot getting across the landing to get under the house).

We also used the AC-ROV for the first time on the trip– it’s essentially a camcorder with thrusters!

No sign of bodies, but we were able to check off two areas that the Coast Guard had been unable to explore. More today.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUvymnvsXq4[/youtube]

[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.

We’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!

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.

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.

Here’s the latest photos and robots released by TEPCO. and here’s more info.

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!

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.