Friday 19 August 2011

Robot could speed up mining accident response

A robot designed with the help of an Xbox controller and which resembles a Lego figure could help rescue attempts after mining accidents. Researchers at the Sandia Labs in New Mexico say the four foot long, two foot high robot could work its way through 18 inches of water and through poisonous gases to reach trapped miners long before human rescuers.

The Gemini-Scout can scope out unstable environments and help plan operations. Jon Salton, Sandia engineer and project manager said: "The robot is guided by remote control and is equipped with gas sensors, a thermal camera to locate survivors and another pan-and-tilt camera mounted several feet up to see the obstacles we're facing."