Team members are currently working on design and manufacturing of an industrial grade rescue robot. This robot has the following features:

• autonomously navigate through collapsed structures

• find victims and ascertain their condition

• produce practical maps of their locations

• deliver real-time communications

• identify hazards

and these allows human rescuers to quickly locate and help victims.

  Competition Mission :

• Objectively evaluate mobile robots in a challenging and realistic environment

• Develop performance metrics and standards for mobile robots  

• Promote collaboration among robotic researchers

  Two robots which were manufactured by our team are shown in Fig.1 and 2.

  Basically this project is divided into two parts:

  1- Mechanics.

  2- Electronics and Software developments.

  1-Technical information in Electronics and Software developments:

The Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are gradually taking place in human life. Design and manufacturing of these robots with the mentioned features require applying the following technologies:

  •  Manual control, Semi Autonomous control and Autonomous control

Some robots must be completely controlled by an operator (Manual control). In other kind, in addition to the operator's commands, robots can individually detect something around them and decide automatically (Semi Autonomous). Also there is advanced kind of robots which are called Autonomous robots. They can detect all things surrounding them and act well without any operator's commands.

  •  Localization in local and global form

The robot needs to know its position in every moment for map generation. Distance measuring sensors and accelerometer sensors would be useful in this section.

  •  Map generation during the robot movement

Map generation is a dynamic process that requires implementing real-time data of range finding sensors. The task of map generation is divided into two parts: Simulation and Real world data manipulation.

  •  Communication 

The operator must be aware of robot's surroundings and know the status of robot. For instance, knowing the status of batteries and position of robot are very vital for real rescue operation. Thus the communication may be most important part in Electronics and Software developments section. This communication should be wireless and reliable .It is possible to use Wireless Modems for data transmission and Head Mounted Display (HMD) for Video communication .

  •  Sensors for Victim Identification

One of the major tasks of an operational rescue robot is helping human rescuers by identifying victim's status, and this is done by gathering some information about his/her consciousness (moving, screaming, etc.), body heat, and breathing (CO2 emission). Since usual rescue robots don't have a precise control on their movements, it is better to do these measurements by non-contact means to avoid hurting victims. Sound and video of the disaster scene are sent to the station so that operator can easily detect any life sign in them .

2- Technical information in Mechanical section

After analyzing different robots with different motion mechanisms, using two different robots in the competition was preferred. One robot is a modified shrimp rover and the other is a hybrid tracked robot. The shrimp rover robot is the modified version of the last year's robot. The hybrid tracked robot has a flexible mechanism and will be compatible with the environment; it can switch between wheeled and tracked modes.

This couple (shrimp rover and hybrid tracked robot) work like a team. They complete each others' capabilities. A more through explanation of each robot, their specifications and their potential use will follow. Many companies have tried to design the hybrid tracked robots. For instance NASA as a leader of robot designing, has manufactured this robot namely Urban. The figures of this robot have been shown in below.

Figure3. Urban rescue robot. made in NASA

 •  Selecting the driving system

  Driving system consists of Motors, Gearboxes and Control boards. This selection was based on the required Power and maneuvering capability for robot

Figure 4. Hybrid rescue robot. Made in NASA

•  Drawings

Based on previous designing and researching about robots, the schematics of different components of robots for manufacturing have been obtained.

• Dynamic Analyzing

This robot with mentioned features has varying dynamic. Thus, some problems such as stability or robustness and adaptation must be taken into account.

• Providing Standard components

It's clear that all of component which are used in robots must be in standard form .

• Testing

For finding capabilities and identifying fault points of manufactured robot, The Urban robot is tested in this stage. In fact, our group is firstly manufacturing the first edition of Urban robot (Alpha) and after problems eliminating, we start to manufacture the second edition of robot (Beta).