A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck the mountains of central Italy this Wednesday, and the death toll has risen to 247. Almost simultaneously, the 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck near Mandalay, the second-largest city in Myanmar. Relief work is still under way in two places. The number of casualties is still increasing.
The structure of the rubble after the earthquake was extremely unstable, and the rescuers faced many dangers. The post-earthquake rescues involving nuclear and infrastructural facilities were even more deadly. At the same time, it is difficult for large-scale machinery and equipment to cross the rubble and cannot be effectively rescued. Therefore, the development of robots that can pass through complex and narrow spaces is an important direction in earthquake rescue research.
| 蟑螂 AndroidAccording to statistics, most people in the earthquake died because they were trapped in the rubble and could not be rescued in time. Therefore, finding the survivors is the key to the rescue work.
Scientists seek inspiration from this kind of animal. Although this creature is annoying, it has extraordinary drilling skills.
In the "flattening" test, the researchers found that when subjected to a compression force of 300 times their own body weight, the cockroaches can still move through the narrow crevice; when the stress is increased to nearly 900 times the body mass, Seemingly “pressing cakes†are actually not injured.
In February of this year, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley borrowed a flexible exoskeleton structure to create a robot prototype that was more adaptable to narrow, rugged terrain.
This robot can successfully pass through a narrow space less than half its height, which also makes it have the potential to drill into rubble and search for signs of earthquake survivors.
| Quince robots that can detect breathing and body temperature
Japan is an earthquake-prone country and has invested a lot of human and financial resources in earthquake rescue robots, among which the Quince robots are representative.
Quince in the lab
Quince is the size of a children's toy car with 4 sets of track wheels and 6 electric motors. Its robotic arm can open doors and deliver food or other supplies. Quince is particularly good for its sensor devices. Its infrared sensors are also carbon dioxide detectors that detect the body's breathing and body temperature. This can be used to explore signs of life in the earthquake.
Quince played a very important role in the rescue and rescue work of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011. He traveled on multiple floors and conducted radiation and temperature tests. It also photographed a lot of clear photos inside the nuclear reactor building.
However, Quince did not return successfully in the end. It lost contact with the control center during the mission. On the other hand, the robots that Tepco subsequently dispatched all have "defiled."
At the time, the hearth of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant melted down. Although Tepco dispatched several robotic surveys, the robots were damaged by radiation as soon as they approached the nuclear reactor, and the cards could not be played halfway.
In the end, Tepco had to resort to the American military robot PacKBot (iRobot product), but at this time has missed the best time to control the nuclear leakage.
PacKBot
| DARPA Sets Competition for Rescue RobotsWhen the Fukushima nuclear leak occurred in 2011, researchers of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the United States also participated in the rescue plan. They deeply felt the limitations of robots in disaster relief. In recent years, natural disasters have frequently occurred in other countries and regions of the world. It was decided to hold the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) in order to improve the robot's adaptability to dangerous environments.
The DRC has been held three times since 2012. Take the 2015 competition as an example. In the two-day event, the team’s robots have two chances to complete an obstacle race covering 8 tasks, including driving, getting off the vehicle, entering the door, opening the valve, using a power drill to break the wall, and wearing Get through the debris terrain, climb stairs, and replace cable sockets . The design of the event was particularly inspired by the Fukushima nuclear disaster and simulated a similar accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In order to simulate the real environment, the internal communication network of the robot and control team needs to be interrupted for more than 30 seconds.
The following are the winners who won the championship at the 2015 DRC: DRC-HUBO robots from South Korea's KAIST team.
DRC-HUBO is extremely sensitive. It has two legs and can walk. But when it is necessary, it can also be knelt down and use the wheels on the knees and feet to advance, which will make it more stable as it advances. It can complete the task faster and it will hardly fall.
The tasks on DARPA are more suitable for humanoid robots because our environment is designed to fit the structure of the human body. For example, our doors are designed to fit into humanoid hands. Therefore, humanoid robots are more suitable for tasks in certain complex environments. Tasks such as opening a door or driving a car are small-scale detection robots that cannot perform.
In response to natural disasters and various social issues, researchers have been working hard to develop more sensitive and effective robots. However, in the earthquake in Italy, we did not seem to see the participation of intelligent robots in the rescue, indicating that robots still have some distance from the laboratory to the ruins of the battlefield.
Extended reading:
Experience the "Olympics of Robots" - The DARPA Robotics Challenge (on)
What issues need to be overcome to involve robots in disaster relief?
What is Industrial DTU? Industrial DTU characteristics and application field analysis
What is DTU?
A Data Transfer unit (DTU) is a wireless terminal device that converts serial port data into IP data or IP data into serial port data over a wireless communication network.
Second, industrial DTU characteristics?
D220 is an industrial 4G DTU based on 4G wireless network, the product uses high-performance industrial embedded processor, real-time operating system as the software support platform, to ensure that the data link is smooth at any time, to provide users with high-speed, stable and reliable data transmission. It can be easily and quickly arranged in the industrial site, and can be used in harsh environments.
Hardware features:
Anti-interference design, suitable for harsh electromagnetic environment application requirements
Wide voltage power supply design, support DC5V-35V power input, built-in power reverse protection and overvoltage and overcurrent protection
The serial port can be a service serial port or a data serial port
Supports the many-to-many link configuration between the service serial port and the center
Select industrial-grade devices and optimize electromagnetic compatibility design to meet the requirements of harsh application environments
The D220 supports backward compatible 2G/3G network access based on 4G network.
Built-in hardware watchdog, regular detection mechanism, automatic resetting of abnormal equipment.
Complete industrial environment design requirements, all-metal structure, the whole machine has passed the strict electromagnetic compatibility test, CE certification
Software features:
Multi-center mode/Multi-backup mode (up to five multi-centers/backup centers)
Different serial ports can be used as maintenance or service serial ports, and different service serial ports can be connected to different multi-centers.
Multi-protocol upper development kit support (compatible with communication protocols of multiple DTU manufacturers, which can achieve seamless replacement of DTU)
Supports ICMP and LCP link detection technologies and keeps heartbeat alive, ensuring the stability and reliability of the network and communication
Supports local serial port upgrade and remote software upgrade
Supports TCP, UDP, DUTCP, DCUDP and other connection protocols
Supports multiple encryption modes to ensure secure data transmission
3. Application fields
D220 4G DTU conforms to industrial design, complete functions, stable transmission, widely used in environmental protection, water conservancy, meteorological industries; Industrial control field; Industry and special environment, oil and gas, heating industry, etc.
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