Graduate students and the experimental
robots they helped to develop were among
the early responders who joined the search
and rescue efforts shortly after the Sept.
11 collapse of the World Trade Center
towers.
Robotics expert Robin Murphy, an associate
professor of computer science at the University
of South Florida, was called immediately
and arrived on site the morning after
the collapse. Murphy's research on experimental
mixed-initiative robots for urban rescue
operations was originally funded by the
National Science Foundation (NSF). Her
response team included three graduate
students -- Jenn Casper, Mark Micire and
Brian Minten - who helped her develop
the robots and their software-guided "marsupial"
systems. These intelligent anonymous "marsupial"
robots are especially useful in rubble
because the "mother" robot releases smaller
robots to explore tight spaces unreachable
by other means. The mother carries the
little ones in its "pouch" into the site
as far as she can maneuver, releasing
and providing "power" as the "babies"
descend from her to perform their search
negotiating smaller crevices and hidden
spaces. Equipped to maintain balance on
rough terrain, the smaller team can reach,
sense, and report on spaces that may be
either too small or too dangerous for
human rescue workers to approach or enter.
The severity of the WTC damage prevented
the use of the mother; instead the shoebox-sized
robots were taken by backpack into the
rubble.
Within minutes of the World Trade Center
attack, Murphy spoke with another of her
former students, John Blitch, who directs
the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and
Rescue (CRASAR). They expected to meet
in New York under the direction of NIUSR
board member Raymond Downey, chief of
the fire department's special operations
section. However, Downey was among the
rescue workers killed when the towers
collapsed.
The CRASAR team prepared its robots near
Stewart Air Force Base in Newburgh, NY,
where Murphy, Casper, Micire and Minten
were also fitted with asbestos-rated respirators.
They gained access to "Ground Zero" at
8:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Murphy, a veteran
of many smaller building collapse training
sessions, knew instinctively that they
had little chance of finding survivors.
"The firefighters were grimly determined
to find their colleagues," she said. "We
were all determined to find whatever was
possible. If we didn't find someone alive,
finding remains and ensuring rescuer safety
was just as important."
Over the next 11 days, the CRASAR teams
made five insertions onto the massive
rubble piles, often interrupted when safety
concerns forced an evacuation. The hardiest
of the robots -- which cost between $10,000
and $40,000 -- were sent into the rubble
whenever requested by Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) task force teams
or sector chiefs. The mechanized prowlers
had tethers with a range of 100 feet,
far out-stripping the fire department's
seven-foot camera wands.
While CRASAR robots helped find five victims
and another set of remains, Murphy expressed
regret that they hadn't been more successful.
The marsupial concept still remains promising,
especially to handle remote tether management,
says Murphy.
In the future, tether-free robots enabled
by artificial intelligence would guide
themselves through collapsed buildings
or other difficult terrain, Murphy believes.
She also hopes to develop algorithms that
could distinguish colors and shapes to
help robots locate victims, living or
dead.
Before graduate school, Casper received
an NSF award under Research Experiences
for Undergraduates. Now she and fellow
students Micire and Minten have acquired
the kind of field experience none of them
would have hoped for, yet none would have
missed.
"This was the worst thing I or anyone else
has seen in the field," Murphy said. "It
says a lot for my students that they rose
to the challenge. Now we'll take these
lessons home, with new inspiration to
make our next generation of search and
rescue robots as advanced as possible."
For more about Robin Murphy's research,
including photos from the WTC site, see:
http://www.crasar.org
See
also: video footage.
Broadcasters: For B-roll on Betacam
SP, contact NSF's Dena Headlee dheadlee@nsf.gov/703-292-8070.
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See
also: video footage.
Damage at the collapse site.
A larger
version is here.
Graduate students Brian Minten and Jenn
Casper near the collapse site.
A larger
version is here.
One of the search and rescue robots.
A larger
version is here.
One of the search and rescue robots.
A larger
version is here.
One of the search and rescue robots.
A larger
version is here.
One of the search and rescue robots enters
a sewer.
A larger
version is here.
Operator and monitor.
A larger
version is here.
Robot's 'eye' view.
A larger
version is here.
Group of search and rescue robots.
A larger
version is here.
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