January 18, 2012 10:02am ETSnake Robot Rides a Dog to the Rescue Search and Rescue Robots Canine Assisted Robot Deployment A FEMA dog is outfitted with a harness to carry a snake robot during disaster response training. Credit: Carnegie Mellon University View full size image

The German shepherd had sniffed his way through a 60-foot tunnel to reach the person trapped inside. He barked furiously to signal his human handlers — and a coiled robot snake dropped from his belly to the ground next to the victim.

The demonstration showed how man's best friend might team up with search and rescue robots at the training grounds of Texas A&M University's "Disaster City" last fall. The dog's keen sense of smell and swift-footed approach combines with the robot snake's camera and slinky exploration capabilities to give human rescuers a close-up look at the scene.

"I don't see one replacing the other," said Alex Ferworn, director of the Network-Centric Applied Research Team Lab at Ryerson University in Canada. "I see dogs and robots as complementary."

A robot snake uncoils to look around with its camera after being dropped off near a pretend disaster victim.Credit: Carnegie Mellon UniversityView full size image

Robot drop

The Canadian lab made a patented harness that allows dogs to deliver items inside bags slung under their bellies. But when human handlers had to push a button that would release the bag of emergency supplies, they couldn't see where the bag would drop.

Some brainstorming led to a new tactic — allowing the dogs to activate the emergency supply drop by simply barking.

"We added a feature called bark detection that lets the dog decide when to drop it off," Ferworn told InnovationNewsDaily. "We discovered that the dog is usually smarter than us, so we can get the bag to drop within a foot of the target if we let the dog do it."

Ferworn and his colleagues also created a robot named DEX that could drop from a dog's belly and explore its surroundings. They brought the robot and their device to the 2011 Response Robot Evaluation Exercise held by the Department of Homeland Security and National Institute of Standards and Technology last November.

Dog meets snake

That's when Ferworn spotted a snake robot from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He and the Carnegie Mellon team put their heads together and decided to try adapting the snake robot for the Canine Assisted Robot Deployment (CARD) system.

At first, the snake robot's long power tether threatened to get tangled in the dog's legs. But firemen showed the researchers how to coil up the robot's tether so that it played out safely behind a running dog.

A German shepherd dog named "Freitag" ("Friday" in German) was volunteered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the honor of carrying the snake robot. Freitag had been trained (in German) to find victims sitting or lying on the ground — all for the reward of some playtime with his human trainers.

The dog first ran a practice trial outside a "bark barrel" with a human inside. It went on to successfully locate a human "victim" inside a 60-foot-long tunnel and deploy his robot bundle, as seen in a recent video released by Carnegie Mellon University.

A FEMA dog named Freitag carries a robot snake under its belly during search and rescue training.Credit: Carnegie Mellon UniversityView full size image

Sniffing out new funding

Ferworn has already talked with Howie Choset, head of the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute, about how to improve the next robot-carrying system. He also has European colleagues discussing a new project focused on the unique combination of dogs and robots.

"Some investigators have been flippant about prematurely predicting the demise of the use of the dog in this situation," Ferworn said. "But the reason task forces use dogs is that they work — robots don't work for the same thing."

Perhaps the biggest problem right now is finding funding. Roboticists have struggled to fund search and rescue work, even as millions of dollars go toward the U.S. military's drones or the legions of robot factory workers around the world.

"Everything else is getting funded because there's profit involved," Ferworn said. "But when something goes bad, you'll need these [search and rescue] systems."

This story was provided by InnovationNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. You can follow InnovationNewsDaily Senior Writer Jeremy Hsu on Twitter @ScienceHsu. Follow InnovationNewsDaily on Twitter @News_Innovation, or on Facebook.

机器蛇骑狗开展救援工作 - 搜索和救援机器人 - 犬科动物辅助机器人部署

Snake机器人骑狗的救援搜救犬机器人辅助机器人Deployment 一个FEMA狗配备线束携带救灾期间训练蛇形机器人。图片来源：卡内基梅隆大学查看原图

德国牧羊犬已经嗅到了他的方式，通过一个60英尺长的隧道到达被困的人。他愤怒地咆哮着向他发出信号人类处理和mdash;和盘绕机器人蛇下降，从他的肚子旁边的受害人.

演示了如何人类最好的朋友不妨一起组队搜救机器人在德州农工的培训场地的地面; M大学的＆QUOT;灾难城＆QUOT;去年秋天。狗的敏锐的嗅觉和快速脚的办法感结合了机器人蛇的摄像头和紧身的探索能力，给人类救援特写看现场.

u0026 QUOT;我看不到东西代替原另一方面，＆QUOT;亚历克斯说Ferworn，以网络为中心的应用研究团队实验室的瑞尔森大学在加拿大主任。 [我看见狗和机器人为互补QUOT;

机器人蛇uncoils被丢弃掉附近的一个假装灾难victim.Credit后，其摄像头环顾四周：卡耐基梅隆大学UniversityView原图

机器人滴

的加拿大的实验室取得了专利的工具，该工具可以让狗里面眼袋他们的肚子里挂着交付项目。但是，当人处理程序必须按下一个按钮，将释放应急物资的袋子，他们无法看到袋子将下降.

有些头脑风暴导致了一个新的战术和mdash;让犬只需吠叫.

u0026 QUOT启动应急供应下降;我们增加了一个功能叫做树皮检测，让狗决定何时把它关闭，＆QUOT; Ferworn告诉InnovationNewsDaily。 ＆QUOT;我们发现，狗通常比我们更聪明，所以我们可以得到包到目标不到一英尺跌落如果我们让狗做＆QUOT;

Ferworn和他的同事们还制造了一个机器人名为DEX的可能下降，从狗的肚子，并探讨其周边地区。他们带来了由国土安全部和美国国家标准与技术研究所系去年11月举行的机器人和他们的设备，以2011年响应机器人评价工作.

狗满足蛇

这时候Ferworn发现了一个蛇形机器人，从卡内基·梅隆大学在匹兹堡。他和卡内基·梅隆大学的团队们商议，并决定尝试适应蛇形机器人的犬辅助机器人部署（CARD）系统.

起初，蛇形机器人的长电系绳威胁要在狗的腿得到纠结。但消防员表明研究者如何盘绕机器人的系绳，使其发挥出安全背后走狗.

名为＆QUOT一个德国牧羊犬; Freitag的＆QUOT; （＆QUOT;周五＆QUOT;德国）是为荣誉承载蛇形机器人的志愿由联邦紧急事务管理署（FEMA）。 Freitag的接受了培训（德文）找到受害人或坐或躺在地上＆mdash;所有对于一些与他的人的培训师玩耍的奖励.

狗第一次运行实践审判＆QUOT之外;树皮桶＆QUOT;与人类的内部。它继续成功地找到一个人＆QUOT;受害人和QUOT; 。里面一个60英尺长的隧道和部署他的机器人捆绑，在由卡耐基梅隆大学最近公布的视频可见

名为Freitag的一个联邦紧急措施署的狗进行期间搜救training.Credit在其腹部机器人蛇：卡耐基梅隆UniversityView全尺寸图像

嗅出新的资金

Ferworn已经采访了豪伊Choset，卡内基梅隆大学机器人研究所，关于如何提高下一个机器人传送系统的负责人。他还拥有欧洲同事讨论集中在狗和机器人.

u0026 QUOT巧妙结合的新项目，一些研究者已经轻率约过早地预测在这种情况下使用了狗的死亡，和QUOT; Ferworn说。 ＆QUOT;但工作队用狗的原因是，他们的工作和mdash;机器人不会对同一件事的工作和QUOT;

也许现在是找到资金是最大的问题。机器人专家一直在努力基金搜救工作，甚至数百万美元去对美军的无人驾驶飞机或机器人工厂工人的世界各地的.

u0026 QUOT军团，一切是得到资助，因为有介入的利润，与QUOT; Ferworn说。 ＆QUOT;但是，当事情变坏，你需要这些[搜救search and rescue您可以按照InnovationNewsDaily资深作家杰里米·许在Twitter @ScienceHsu。