| Ground,
aerial and aquatic emergency response robots from across the
country will face realistic urban search and rescue challenges
April 4-6 at Disaster City near the Texas A&M University
campus in College Station, Texas.
The event,
hosted by Texas A&M Engineering and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) urban search and rescue team Texas
Task Force 1, is the second in a series of robot evaluation
exercises for urban search and rescue applications conducted
by the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST). The program is sponsored
by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science
and Technology Directorate.
”We
welcome the opportunity to test robot capabilities at Texas
A&M’s Disaster City and expect to learn a great
deal,” said Adam Jacoff, NIST Intelligent Systems Division
robotic research engineer. “Emergency responders will
have an opportunity to deploy robots in realistic training
scenarios. Their feedback will help the robot developers refine
their designs and better understand robot performance requirements.
At the same time, NIST will gain valuable experience on how
to objectively evaluate robot performance. Data NIST collects
will be used to develop standard test methods and usage guides
and to help identify robots best suited for specific emergency
response situations,” he said.
“Texas
A&M Engineering is uniquely capable of supporting this
emerging technology of incorporating robotics into urban search
and rescue,” added Dr. G. Kemble Bennett, vice chancellor
and dean of Texas A&M Engineering. “Our facilities
and laboratories are ideal for testing and evaluating existing
technology, while our academic engineering program supports
identifying the research and development needs of the future.
Our full spectrum of capabilities can transfer technology
from theory to practical application for our ultimate objective:
enhancing public safety.”
Disaster
City is a 52-acre training facility designed to deliver the
full array of skills and techniques needed by urban search
and rescue professionals, featuring full-scale collapsible
structures that replicate community infrastructure. The site
includes simulations of a strip mall, office building, industrial
complex, assembly hall/theater, single-family dwelling, train
derailments, and three active rubble piles. It also features
a small lake.
NIST
has invited the following types of robots to Disaster City:
(1) quickly launched, low-attitude aerial surveillance robots;
(2) ground-based portable robots that can circumnavigate large
unknown situations, such as in train derailments; (3) highly
agile, human-packable robots that can be released to lead
responders through complex environments such as building rubble
piles; (4) confined space robots for deployment into small
otherwise inaccessible spaces or for throwing into or over
inaccessible areas; (5) wall climbing robots for surveillance
from elevated vantage points; and (6) aquatic robots including
surface, underwater, and bottom crawlers to perform pattern
searches with sonar and/or other sensors.
All FEMA
urban search and rescue teams are invited to the event. Emergency
responders will match robots, after two days of robot tests
and performance test measurement work, for specific scenarios
in a final day four-hour mock incident response exercise.
The exercise will deploy the robots in a working incident
response command structure.
NIST
(www.nist.gov), a non-regulatory
agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Technology
Administration, promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness
by advancing measurement science, standards and technology
in ways that enhance economic and homeland security. As part
of this mission, NIST scientists and engineers continually
refine the science of measurement, making possible the ultra
precise engineering and manufacturing required for today’s
most advanced technologies.
Texas
A&M University’s engineering program (engineering.tamu.edu)
ranks among the finest and most comprehensive engineering
programs in the nation. The Dwight Look College of Engineering
is an integral part of Texas A&M, which opened in 1876
as the state’s first public institution of higher education.
More than 8,800 students are enrolled in 12 engineering disciplines.
Texas A&M Engineering also includes three state engineering
agencies that provide engineering research, education and
outreach to the state, nation and world.
Editors’
Note: Media interested in observing this exercise should contact
Jason Cook at (979) 575-0859.
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