Designing, Building, and Testing an Autonomous Search and Rescue Robot — An Undergraduate Applied Research Experience

Abstract Designing, Building, and Testing an Autonomous Search and Rescue Robot — An Undergraduate Applied Research ExperienceIntroductionBurning buildings, collapsed mines, and hostage situations all have one thing in common; theyare dangerous for rescuers. Robots are, therefore, a preferred substitute! Robots can accomplishmany tasks without requiring a human to enter a dangerous location, thereby saving lives. In thepast, robots were not an option due to the high cost involved and the training required to operatethem. However, with modern advancements in technology, robots are becoming increasinglyused in situations and locations that were unthinkable in the past.The objective of this paper is to develop an inexpensive, easy to operate, autonomous robot thatis capable of navigating itself in dangerous situations. This would be a significant project,because it would demonstrate that using robots is not too far out of reach, even for localemergency crews and law enforcement. This project will explore artificial intelligence as itrelates to self-guided robots, microcontroller programming and code optimization, wireless videostreaming, and remote control using a smartphone’s accelerometer. Upon the project’scompletion, the plan is develop a very simple to use robot capable of driving itself through abuilding while sending a video feed from a user-controllable camera back to the smartphone.Project BackgroundCarnegie Mellon University is on the forefront of research for Search and Rescue robots. One ofthe most notable developments is the Snake Robot (also known as a hyper-redundant robot). Therobot was developed as a result of requirements developed during robot use for September 11,2011 search and rescue efforts. A trained K9 would go in and drop off the robot, and then ahuman operator would control the robot based on the video feed sent back wirelessly.The National Institute of Standards and Technology is also doing research on Search and Rescuerobots. They have a created a competition with three arenas of varying difficulty. Participantsare required to navigate through the arenas to complete tasks without damaging the environmentor the manikins. With careful data collection and observations of these competitions, they areable to explore the variety of robot implementations, the pros and cons of each implementation,and human and robot interactions. Researchers are able to use the data collected to learn aboutand improve situational awareness, which is essential for robot autonomy.According to the Springer Handbook of Robotics, there is a lot of work to be done inautonomous robotics for search and rescue. Due to the unpredictability of the environmentsencountered in disasters, better programming algorithms and better sensors need to be developed.Also, a proper balance needs to be struck between full autonomy and user control. Currentsearch and rescue robots require hours of training for humans and animals.This applied research project is being conducted and funded as a part of the undergraduateresearch experience at ____________. The educational experience and benefits will be alsodiscussed.