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Robo-rat to save people from burning buildings |
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Written by Nick Farrell
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Friday, 03 July 2009 12:10 |
Thank you for not
smoking
A robotic rat which can scurry through the dark thanks to its
whiskers could one day rescue people from burning buildings.
The robot
has been designed by Prof Tony Prescott from the University of Sheffield and
Dr Tony Pipe, of Bristol Robotics Lab. One of the problems with fires is that
there is a lot of smoke which makes finding things difficult. You cannot use
many visual systems because of the heat.
However SCRATCHbot can find
objects using its sensory whiskers in dark or smoky rooms. The pair of
boffins say that the use of sensory whiskers was a real break through and
even added: 'A robot like this could help a rescue operation.'
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