Coming Soon – Robot Rescuer

First responders have to often risk their lives in order to rescue others. With robots designed to help first responders in their rescue missions the element of risk can be controlled. One of the main reasons why robot rescuers have not become quite as popular as earlier envisioned is because they are extremely energy hungry. They discharge their batteries super fast and soon become useless in areas where they can not be recharged quickly and efficiently.

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are tackling this issue of energy efficiency in robots in the hope of creating true robot rescuers who can function just as well as their human counterparts and for just as long as it takes. They are developing technology that will really improve the endurance of biped robots, allowing them operate for extra periods of time while working in the types of locomotion most relevant to disaster response scenarios.

The graduate students are planning to showcase their new technological advances in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals in June 2015. The goal of this science project here is not to make a big, bad ass robot, but rather an efficient one that can be used in emergency situations as a major tool. It will be interesting to see how these robots develop.