Search-and-rescue robot reaches new heights – by going to new depths

The Good Samaritan, an urban search-and-rescue robot developed by CSU students, is undergoing a redesign.

An urban search-and-rescue robot developed by CSU mechanical engineering students could ultimately save more lives with its latest redesign. The original award-winning Good Samaritan, designed to detect and find victims in disaster areas and transmit information to rescue crews, is being retooled to tackle smaller, confined spaces that even rescue dogs can't enter.

Originally equipped with a thermal imager that uses infrared light to detect body heat, a microphone to detect human voice, and a light camera for navigation, the original Good Samaritan placed second in last year’s national RoboCup Urban Search and Rescue Competition and fourth in the world championship, competitions that showcase new technology for search-and-rescue applications.

Going mini and micro

This year's student design team, led by mechanical engineering instructor Carl Kaiser, is fine-tuning the Mini prototype, which is half the size of the original Good Samaritan and measures only 12 inches on each side.

In addition to the robot's smaller size, the design team added several new components. An arm will allow the robot to access spaces previously inaccessible, providing a means to maneuver over and around obstacles including stairs, steps, and rubble. The robot also will be equipped with a SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) system using LADAR, or laser-based radar.

This year's team also has redesigned the communication and computational system, which allows multiple robots to be controlled from a single point and more data to be gathered, processed, and transmitted using less power and space.

A student team is also designing the Good Samaritan Micro, half the size of the Mini. The Micro will be the smallest self-contained robot ever designed for search and rescue applications and will revolutionize the field, providing access to voids in rubble that measure less than six inches across, such as those at the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Competition

Students will enter the Good Samaritan and Good Samaritan-Mini at the RoboCup National Championship in Atlanta, Ga., this spring. During competition, robots must search for "humans" in a simulated collapsed building and report locations to "rescue workers" outside the competition field autonomously. Lifelike mannequins placed throughout the field are equipped with actuated joints and thermal signatures, which imitate body temperature. Mannequins also emit carbon dioxide as if breathing and make noises simulating someone trapped in rubble.

"The fact that seniors from CSU are competing against paid graduate students from other universities, and competing very well, is a testament to the quality of the students here at CSU and the hard work that they are willing to put in," said Kaiser.

Last year's strong finish at the RoboCup World Championships in Bremen, Germany, will likely ensure the teams a spot in this summer’s international competition in Suzhou, China.

Virtual dog will help vet med students perfect craft

No real dogs need apply. Colorado State University professors and students are building a simulated Labrador retriever to help veterinary medicine students learn to apply acupuncture, eliminating the stress a live dog would experience without the virtual technology.

The job belongs to "SimPooch," a simulated, anatomically accurate dog with a virtual reality interface. The concept was conceived by Peter Young, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Narda Robinson, complementary and alternative medicine chair in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

SimPooch's role is to remove the guesswork for students learning acupuncture, said Robinson. "Acupuncture works by nerve stimulation. If students are too far from the nerves they need to stimulate to promote healing, the benefits of treatment will be diminished."

Project plans

Robinson started the project last year with mechanical engineering students and Sue James, director of the School of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering. They built a physical model of a dog's head that reproduced the varying densities of bone, muscle, skin, and fat to provide students real-life physical "force" feedback.

Now electrical engineering students are building the computer software to reproduce the head in a virtual reality environment that will interface with the physical model, enabling acupuncture students to hone the accuracy and precision of their acupuncture point-location techniques.

The 3-D virtual software used for SimPooch incorporates haptic, or touch, technology that has been applied in such medical simulations as lumbar puncture, or spinal tap, techniques. To make SimPooch realistic, the engineering students will simulate the feel, or force feedback, of acupuncture needles hitting layers of skin, muscle, and bone.

Improving skills

Teaching students how to locate points based on an anatomically accurate 3-D model will improve their palpation techniques, location skills, and treatment outcomes. "No live dogs are needed, and students can practice their techniques over and over again without causing stress to live animals," Robinson said.

SimPooch could eventually provide radiologic and oncologic teaching applications, such as how to administer nerve blocks for interventional pain relief, noted Robinson.

The project has challenged engineering students to build a computer software program while learning anatomy, physiology, and the science of acupuncture – not typical course work for engineering students. Challenging students, however, is part of the process of CSU’s capstone design projects.

"Senior design projects allow students to develop practical, hands-on skills that teach them how to succeed in an integrated, interdisciplinary engineering environment," said Olivera Notaros, head of senior design in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

This academic year, electrical engineering students are working on 21 projects that allow them to collaborate with industry partners.