An official video of the most recent Rescue Robot Contest is now up.
In the long version below, from around 5:00 minutes you can see the various tactics that the robots use to handle the dolls.
In the next shorter version of the introduction video, at around 50 seconds you'll get a glimpse of the wearable device that one of the teams used to control the robot.
Thank you Prof. Masutani!
The 10th Rescue Robot Contest will be held in Kobe, Japan next August. It will be 15 years since the city was hit by the Great Hanshin Earthquake, which was the motive that started this competition.
Contestants will remotely operate their robots to rescue dummies buried under rubble within a 1/6 scale model of a disaster-stricken area. The operators can not see the robots directly but through a camera on the robot and another from above (meant to be from a helicopter).
(Photos:Rescue Robot Contest Executive Committee)
You will not only compete in speed but also by how gently you handle the dummies. The dummies have built in sensors that check how much pressure and impact is being applied to the body and neck and the data is sent wirelessly to the score board.
Although the website and rules are only in Japanese at this point, the organizers are hoping to get some participants from overseas. Two teams will be invited to SICE2010 in Taiwan to give demos. If you are interested, please contact office@rescue-robot-contest.org or GetRobo.
This year's competition is not up on YouTube yet, but here is a video from 2008.
Robot manufacturer tmsuk Co. announced its newest rescue robot T-53 Enryu on July 17, a day after a major earthquake hit Niigata Prefecture of central Japan.
Three weeks later, the company dispatched the robot to the devastated area so that it can help with cleaning up the debris. You can read a recent post on Engadget about T-53 Enryu – which name means the “helping dragon” in Japanese.
The voluntary mission is important to tmsuk which wants to prove to the local governments that Enryu indeed is helpful so that they would decide to buy the robots.
I got to talk with Yoichi Takamoto, founder and CEO of tmsuk, at his company in southern Japan in the end of July. Takamoto started tmsuk back in year 2000 thinking he wanted to develop robots that were not just fun and entertaining - which he thought too many Japanese companies were already focusing on - but that were useful. He thought robots foremost should be able to replace humans working on life-threatening tasks and since he wasn’t interested in working on military robots, he decided to develop robots that can be used in relief efforts.
Thus Enryu. T-53 Enryu can be operated both onboard and remotely and it’s two arms can pick up 100 kg each.
The Japanese government is trying to nurture and promote the country’s robot industry and has been increasing its funding into the research and development of related technologies.
But interestingly enough, Takamoto says the main obstacle right now is the fact that the Japanese government is reluctant to buy Enryu because “there is no precedent.” “No on has ever bought a rescue robot before and nobody wants to take the responsibility of being the first to do so,” explains Takamoto.
So now Takamoto is thinking of first selling his robot abroad. He has received inquiries from several Asian countries which are interested in either purchasing T-53 Enryu or teaming up with tmsuk to develop their own rescue robots. But ironically, says Takamoto, he is hearing rumors that the Japanese government is a bit demurred about his company spilling out the technology to countries abroad.
Takamoto is perplexed. “I need a precedent to be able to sell within Japan and now the government is trying to prevent me from making that precedent.” Figuring out a way to break out of this dilemma is of course his primary occupation.
Meanwhile, tmsuk’s robot will make its first landing in the U.S.in September. The biped samurai robot Kiyomori can be seen at the WIRED NextFest in Los Angeles.
(Photo: Takamoto with Kiyomori being prepared to be shipped to the U.S.)
