Robots are potential tools for life saving in underground rescue operations like mine disasters. Human rescuers are thwarted by roof falls, explosion dangers, quality of air, visibility through smoke and dust, mental stress and physical endurance. The inability of human rescuers to cover sufficient distance in a short time often has fatal consequences for accident victims. Robots which autonomously scout ahead of human rescuers and summarize environmental information can greatly enhance situational awareness, enabling teams to push forward without delay. This proposal envisions immersive, robotically-created 3D models, fused from many sensor sources and created through smoke, dust, mud, flood and fire. These expansive models provide rescuers with visual clarity that are uncorrupted by environmental condition. Illumination artifacts, sensor noise and errors are removed by fusion and intelligent view planning of radical new modalities including LIDAR, RADAR, multispectral imaging and actively-illuminated RGB sensing.
While the world has often been captivated by high-visibility mine accidents, robots are tangible tools with visible results that have the opportunity to become the centerpiece of any rescue effort. The disrupting effect of the first trapped miner found and human life saved by a rescue robot would inspire countless people to appreciate the evolving role of science and technology in our lives. Prior underground robotics work by this team have generated considerable press and initiated acceptance of robotic technology in even the most change-adverse industries. The investigators will continue to push for robots through media appearances, lab and mine tours for school children and live demonstrations at science museums. This project will support education at all levels, which includes supporting postdoctoral and graduate research in robotics at CMU, employing undergraduate REU interns, and developing curriculum for the Mobile Robot Design course at CMU. Contributions from this research will impact automation in industries ranging from underground production to civic inspection, and defense.
