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Robot-Assisted Urban Search and Rescue at the WTC Disaster

www.crasar.org. Robot-Assisted Urban Search and Rescue at the WTC Disaster. Prof. Robin Murphy Director, Research CRASAR also Associate Prof., Computer Science & Eng. University of South Florida murphy@csee.usf.edu John Blitch, Jenn Casper, Mark Micire, Brian Minten.

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Robot-Assisted Urban Search and Rescue at the WTC Disaster

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  1. www.crasar.org Robot-Assisted Urban Search and Rescueat the WTC Disaster Prof. Robin Murphy Director, Research CRASAR also Associate Prof., Computer Science & Eng. University of South Florida murphy@csee.usf.edu John Blitch, Jenn Casper, Mark Micire, Brian Minten

  2. NBC Today Show Sept 20, 2001 Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  3. Outline • Why Robots? • What should robots do? • What did they do? • What is needed? Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  4. The First Known Robot-Assisted USAR • CRASAR stood up by John Blitch Sept. 2 to transfer military robots for USAR: deploy, train, evaluate, & research robots for SAR • At WTC, CRASAR robots and personnel worked with FDNY, NYC, and FEMA teams such as INTF-1, PATF-1, VATF-1, OHTF-1 USF was only USAR certified team USF brought 6, 2 from NSF USF team logged most hours on The Pit in 1st 2 weeks (except Blitch) Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  5. photos courtesy of Justin Reuter Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  6. Why Use Robots? • Things that humans can’t do or can’t do safely • “the human use of humans” Norbert Wiener • and that applies to dogs • 135 rescuers died Mexico City, 65 in confined spaces • Not enough trained people • 1 survivor, entombed: 10 rescuers, 4 hours • 1 survivor, trapped/crushed: 10 rescuers, 10 hours photos courtesy of Justin Reuter Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  7. ESF9 Tasks: Search, Assessment, Medical Local Jurisdiction FEMA Task Force Organizational Chart FEMA DoD Liaison Task Force Leader Plan/Ops Safety Search Team Rescue Team Medical Team Logistics Team 2 Canine 2 Rescue Squads 2 Medical Structure Search Spec. 12 Rescue Spec. Specialists Specialist Tech Search Rigging Haz Mat PIO Comm. Spec. Logs Spec. Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF) photo courtesy of Justin Reuter

  8. Task Highlights Search Team Rescue Team Medical Team Logistics Team 2 Canine Structure Search Spec. Specialist needed not used Tech Search Haz Mat Rescue Phase 9-11 through 9-21 worked with FDNY, FEMA found 6+ victims (equivalent to FLTF-2) Recovery Phase 9-23 through 10-02 NYC DDC engineers found 3-5 victims added HazMat sensors Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  9. Search Task Priorities • Rescue first, recover later • first responders (always take care of your own) • civilians in rubble pile • civilians elsewhere • Information for triage • where are the survivors? • where are the people likely to be? • where are the survivors likely to have survived? • which pile of rubble do I remove first? • Typical resources • dogs, search cams, acoustics, sledgehammers dogs: injured by sharp metal, smell only 0.3m due to rain on 2nd day, lack of circulating air SearchCam: camera on a pole Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  10. SearchCams ~$10K, Robots ~$12K SearchCams reach up to 5 meters Robots reach up to 30 meters, averaged between 6 and 13 meters Robots can put light on the object, prod it, look at it from different angles Robots can go through more twisting tunnels SearchCams and small robots take <1.5 minutes to set up and insert Robots Compared with SearchCams camera with zoom, lights couldn’t do this helped to recognize remains of a body Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  11. History of Robot-Assisted USAR in USA Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  12. S 1 1 4 DARPA USF Inuktuns rubble pile (The Pit) Solem Foster-Miller Talon Packbot Foster-Miller iRobot collateral buildings SPAWAR UrBot U Blitch JPO USF Foster-Miller SPAWAR iRobot Timeline of Response(Rescue and Recovery, Inspection not shown) T W Th F S Su M T W Th F S 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Murphy Casper Micire Minten Frost Pratt Norman Mangolds Mouru Mangolds Mouru Frost Pratt Norman Murphy Casper Micire Minten Everett Baruch Laird Levan Hudson Moore Ciholas/ Alibozek Pratt Schein Smith Blitch Mangolds Haglund Mouru Frost Moore Ciholas Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  13. Where The Robots Were in the Rubble Pile 9/12/01 9/12/01 9/16/01 9/18/01 9/13/01 Not shown: PATF-1 OHTF-1 NYC INTF-1 FDNY FDNY VATF-1 FDNY 0-live 1-dead 0-live 4-dead 0-live 1-dead 0-live 0-live 3 2 1 6 4 7 5 New York Times 9/23/01 Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  14. Environment at Ground Zero Personal Safety: -Thick dust for days - asbestos, glass -Rubble largely stable, but if fall, could be impaled - 1 injury: fell out of chair Weather: -45-70 deg F -rain 2 days, making rubble slick, slippery Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  15. Contextual View: WTC 2 Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  16. Confined Space using Tethered Bots • 2 types (chemical & sewer, HVAC inspection, TRL 9 but not for USAR) • “polymorphic”: ~60 lbs, 7 hours battery, fits in 1 backpack, $12K • height of mouse to height of squirrel • “fixed geometry”: ~70 lbs., 7 hours battery, fits in 1 backpack, $10K • Tethers: 100-300ft • Terrain & Environment • voids ~6-12 inch diameter • dirt, rubble (but not mounds of paper) • inclines: depends • up steep, go with heavier microTracks • water resistant • not intrinsically safe, can melt tracks Inuktun microVGTV, Inuktun pipe crawler video, 2 way audio Inuktun microTrac video, 2 way audio Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF) www.inuktun.com

  17. Needed Image Processing and Object Recognition Technologies WTC 2, 9/18/01 -tracks of previous robot run -a watch -3, possibly 4 victims (covered in dust, burned) - head, arm socket?, nose, perhaps fingers Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  18. State of Available Information • what viewpoints have already been explored • example: boot? • no one rewound tape far enough back to catch earlier viewpoint which disambiguated the object! Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  19. Confined Space, Structural Assessment using Wireless Bots • 1 type (military hostage rescue, special order, TRL 9 but not for USAR) • backpackable by 2 people, 1 for bot, 1 for OCU & batteries, 12 hours-7 days (standby) • fast, can right itself with practice • can add sensors, payloads • ~$30K • Wireless • depends on material • Terrain & Environment • voids: mansize • dirt, rubble,inclines: depends • water resistant • not intrinsically safe FM Solem video, striper, audio www.foster-miller.com Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  20. Need Sensing of State of the Robot, World WTC 4, 9/16/01 • Need state of robot • pose, size relative to the environment • health • some UIs display • fault detection is hard • diagnostics and recovery is slow (replace or 35 minutes) • State of World • topological vs. metric • 3D mapping • 3D interpretation • video overlay • structural reasoning robot projected a grid to estimate distance Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  21. Search and Structural Assessment of Collaterally Damaged Buildings • 3 types (military hostage rescue, special order research, TRL 4-6) ~$30-45K • backpackable by 2 people, 1 for bot, 1 for OCU & batteries, 12 hours (UrBot), 20min (PackBot) • fast, stairs, grasping • self-righting or invertible • can add sensors, payloads, software • Wireless • Terrain & Environment • buildings, large voids, 3 story drops • dirt, rubble,inclines, stairs • Packbot is water proof • not intrinsically safe SPAWAR UrBot video, audio FM Talon video, audio, gripper iRobot PackBot video, FLIR, 2 way audio www.spawar.navy.mil, www.irobot.com Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  22. General Mobility & Hardware Problems • Lost 1 Solem robot • lost wireless comms, left in hole, wasn’t there later • Damage • detracked once (high heat) • speared on rubble • just wear and tear • Tethers tangle • only twice not immediately recoverable • 7.75 “stuck assists” per drop (or once a minute) • but tether handling is significant • 9.25“gravity assists” per drop • still have tie a rope around the wireless ‘bots • Wireless and dropouts • can’t compress and do image processing • too numerous/duration to count • make it hard to do image proxy processing • Fear of flipping and getting stuck Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  23. HRI Issues Overall • Warning: camera occlusion 12.3% of a drop • teleop doesn’t work well in those cases! • Operator errors (Norman ‘91) • Mistakes • 2: wrong robot, had to remove and try another • microTracks bulldozes in deep dirt, can’t climb • microVGTV too light to get traction • 10% of duration of Inuktun runs spent significant time adjusting lights despite auto gain • need image enhancement • Slips • 0.25 collisions per drop (oversteer) • 8.9% of duration, robot wheel slip (high centered, wrong configuration) • Human-Robot Interfaces scared end-users off Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  24. iRobot: PackBot (experimental) • game joystick plus laptop with video & audio • robot state: battery, comms, orientation, camera, encoders • scared off rescuers: too complicated, too long to train iRobot PackBot video, FLIR, 2 way audio 2 people, 35 kg Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  25. Timeline of Shift w/ VATF-2 (7:00PM 9/18/01 – 7:00AM 9/19/01) • Drive to Ground Zero from Javits Center 65min 12:00AM 2 operators return with robots after VATF-2 retreats • Parts of 9 member group splits off while the rest waits ~355min ~6.5min • 2 operators, 2 robots and VATF-2 search void; MicroTrac failure In route ~6.5min • 2 operator, 2 robots and VATF-2 search same void; VGTV failure Waiting 35min • 2 members retrieve spare robot from Javits Center Searching ~5min • 2 members fix 2 robots using parts from spare robot ~105min • 9 member group moves to new location to wait ~30min • Group returns to Javits Center from Ground Zero 3:00AM 1:00AM 5:00AM 7:00AM 11:00PM 9:00PM • 13 minutes for entire shift (green) • No drop >7 minutes • <1.5 minute set up time or rescuers walk away • Found 3+ victims Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  26. Other problems: Asynergism • Lack of interoperability / “on the other robot” • Image processing, intelligent assistance • Software, sensors couldn’t be migrated between platforms (“plug and perceive”) • Only the “dumbest” robots were well-used • Known capabilities “lost” or “back in the lab” • robots as wireless repeaters • self righting • self reacquistion of comms signal • general office navigation, obstacle avoidance Demo, hardware focus, rather than Systems focus Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  27. Problems as Point of Departure for Theory • USAR robots can be generic, adapted in the field for the particular task, thought of a system • Sensors and sensing need to be improved, miniaturized, $$ • State of robot: highly sensate robots, health monitoring • State of world: 3D maps plus understanding structure • State of available information • Mobility and hardware need to be improved • Polymorphic and elephant trunk sensors masts • Teams of robots • marsupialism for delivery, relay, proxy processing • physically coupled: tether managers, in-line collaborative teleoperation • distributed: hybrid tethers • Human-robot Interaction needs to be improved • Perceptual user interfaces not well-defined, mapping & human models of situational awareness • Training and access is an issue; over the internet Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  28. CONNECTIVITY HOSPITAL MOBILITY DECIDABILITY UNIVERSITY PERCEPT- IBILITY WARM ZONE Base of Operations Team Task Leader personnel prep COLD ZONE Command Post & Staging Area Incident Commander, Structural Engineers, Robot Specialists CRASAR, GOVT LABS Forward Station Section Chief NEW-TECH LABS HOT ZONE Search Teams USABILITY ADAPTABILITY Robot-Assisted USAR as IT Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  29. Summary of Performance • Robots were successfully used at the World Trade Center • Success: quick response (luck) • effective performance • 12/11 equal to manual technical search for 24/10 days • user acceptance • Training in Dec. 02 for East Coast firefighters • Training in Apr. 02 at FDIC in Indianapolis • ~30 copies of data sets to fire rescue teams to date • USF as a university provided expertise from field research, managed data collection (and pushing data dissemination) Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  30. However, We Could’ve Done More… • Had more robots, sensors, and people than were utilized due to credentialing, organizational issues • Lost days 3,4 • Never saw a 24/7 deployment cycle • Only 75% of the available Inuktuns were deployed at any given time, despite effectiveness • Buildings could have been surveyed, if necessary, stored on videotape • Capabilities never exploited • Robots could place tubing to transport air/water/meds to survivors • Dr. Eric Rasmussen, 3rd Fleet Surgeon, sent medical equipment • Added air quality monitors on larger robots after 9/25 • AI Software on larger robots not interoperable with smaller and newer robots Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

  31. Robots Can’t Replace the Real Heroes more information and public video & stills: www.crasar.org murphy@csee.usf.edu Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue at WTC Disaster (NSF)

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