Gemini-Scout (right - Via Sandia Labs by Randy Montoya)
Search and rescue robotics is a lucrative and popular industry these days. In fact, almost every grant funded robotics project waves the life-safety banner, no matter what the machine was designed to perform. Despite the cliché labeling, Sandia National Laboratories' new search and rescue robot can proudly wear these credentials.
The Gemini-Scout Mine Rescue Robot is a four foot long, two feet high, that can operate in the harshest conditions. In can withstand extreme heat, being submerged in water, and was built to be explosion proof. Sandia project manager Jon Salton explained how the Gemini is completely enclosed and would not cause any gas igniting sparks, "Such measures would prevent a spark from causing further destruction. While it might harm the robot, it wouldn’t create another dangerous situation for the miners or rescuers."
The robot can carry a cargo of food and medicine, for trapped people encountered in its rescue efforts. Onboard the Gemini are several sensors, including a gas sensor, thermal camera, and a pan/tilt camera on the highest point of the frame. The locomotion is provided by the tracked wheels capable of tilting for traversing difficult terrain.
The Gemini-Scout is a remotely controlled robot, and does require an operator. Sandia Labs wanted the bot to be intuitively controlled. The team set up the controls to be similar to control in video games. They even went as far as to use a standard XBOX 360 controller for all of the bot's movements.
The Gemini-Scout was shown in Washington D.C. during the Unmanned Vehicle Systems International North America 2011 on August 17, 2011. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health provided funding for the project. And the team is in the final stages of licensing the Gemini-Scout to a major robotics manufacturer. Mine Safety and Health Administration plans on purchasing a large quantity when available.
The specifications of the Gemini-Scout are not that ambitious. I wonder why it has taken so long to design a robot of this caliber. Although the recent mining disasters could have benefited from this bot, it is better late than never.
Cabe
Where are we in robotics today? Go to the element14 robotics section and find out.
