• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.288-292
• /
• 2016

In this paper, we propose an infrared image based human victim recognition method for a search and rescue robot in dark environments, like general disaster situations. For recognizing a human victim, an infrared camera on a RGB-D camera, Microsoft Kinect, is used. The contrast and brightness of the infrared image are first improved by histogram equalization, and the noise on the image is removed by morphological operation and Gaussian filtering. For recognizing a human victim, the binarization and blob labeling methods are applied to the improved image. Finally, for verifying the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method, an experiment for human victim recognition is carried out in a dark environment.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.235-241
• /
• 2016

Dual arm manipulators have been developed for the entertainment purpose such as humanoid type or the industrial application such as automatic assembly. Nowadays, there are some issues for applying the dual arm robot system into the various fields. Especially, robots can substitute human and perform the dangerous activity such as search and rescue in the battle field or disaster. In the paper, the dual arm manipulator which can be adapted to the rescue robot with the mobile platform was developed. The kinematic design was proposed for the rescue activity and the required specification was determined through the kinematic analysis and the dynamic analysis in the various conditions. The proposed dual arm manipulator was manufactured based on the vibration analysis result and its performance was proved by the experiment.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.198-202
• /
• 2009

Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) involves locating, rescuing (extricating), and medically stabilizing victims trapped in confined spaces. In this paper we state the current approach to USAR, address the limitations and discuss the way for moving in rugged topography. To achieve objectives such as surveillance, reconnaissance, and rescue, it is necessary to develop a driving mechanism that can handle rugged geographical features. We propose a new type of driving mechanism for a rescue robot that has a variable shape single-track. By using a variety shapes, it can get the gain of steering and rotating and the ability to overcome stairs. In this paper, we analyzed the design parameters for making variable transform shapes and determined the specifications of the robot to enhance adaptability to stairs.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.114-120
• /
• 2007

This paper introduces a mobile robotic system being developed for urban search and rescue. In order to search human victims in narrow spaces, we developed two types of serially linked mobile robots, named KAEROT-Centipede and KAEROT-SnakeTV1, that can climb over large vertical steps or travel inside narrow vertical pipes. To send such mobile robots to the disaster areas coping with large obstacles, we also developed a assistant mobile robot, named KAEROT-QuadTrack, that has 4 articulated track modules. This paper describes the mechanical structure and control architecture of the serially linked mobile robots and the supporting configuration for torque reduction of the assistant mobile robot during spinning motion that usually requires large driving torque. The experimental results show that such robotic systems have good mobility over the various terrains in disaster areas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2009.10a
• /
• pp.143-144
• /
• 2009

• ETRI Journal
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.262-272
• /
• 2015

In particular, for a practical mobile robot team to perform such a task as that of carrying out a search and rescue mission in a disaster area, the network connectivity and localization have to be guaranteed even in an environment where the network infrastructure is destroyed or a Global Positioning System is unavailable. This paper proposes the new collective intelligence network management architecture of multiple mobile robots supporting seamless network connectivity and cooperative localization. The proposed architecture includes a resource manager that makes the robots move around and not disconnect from the network link by considering the strength of the network signal and link quality. The location manager in the architecture supports localizing robots seamlessly by finding the relative locations of the robots as they move from a global outdoor environment to a local indoor position. The proposed schemes assuring network connectivity and localization were validated through numerical simulations and applied to a search and rescue robot team.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.186-193
• /
• 2008

We propose a novel real-time obstacle avoidance method for rescue robots. This method, named the ELA(Emergency Level Around), permits the detection of unknown obstacles and avoids collisions while simultaneously steering the mobile robot toward safe position. In the ELA, we consider two sensor modules, PSD(Position Sensitive Detector) infrared sensors taking charge of obstacle detection in short distance and LMS(Laser Measurement System) in long distance respectively. Hence if a robot recognizes an obstacle ahead by PSD infrared sensors first, and judges impossibility to overcome the obstacle based on driving mode decision process, the order of priority is transferred to LMS which collects data of radial distance centered on the robot to avoid the confronted obstacle. After gathering radial information, the ELA algorithm estimates emergency level around a robot and generates a polar histogram based on the emergency level to judge where the optimal free space is. Finally, steering angle is determined to guarantee rotation to randomly direction as well as robot width for safe avoidance. Simulation results from wandering in closed local area which includes various obstacles and different conditions demonstrate the power of the ELA.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.1048-1053
• /
• 2005

This paper presents design and integration of the ROBHAZ-DT3, which is a newly developed mobile robot system with chained double-track mechanisms. A passive adaptation mechanism equipped between the front and rear body enables the ROBHAZ-DT3 to have good adaptability to uneven terrains including stairs. The passive adaptation mechanism reduces energy consumption when moving on uneven terrain as well as its simplicity in design and remote control, since no actuator is necessary for adaptation. Based on this novel mobile platform, a rescue version of the ROBHAZ-DT3 with appropriate sensors and a semi-autonomous mapping and localization algorithm is developed to participate in the RoboCup2004 US-Open: Urban Search and Rescue Competition. From the various experiments in the realistic rescue arena, we can verify that the ROBHAZ-DT3 is reliable in traveling rugged terrain and the proposed mapping and localization algorithm are effective in the unstructured environment with uneven ground. The another application is an military robot for an EOD(Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and reconnaissance mission. The military version of the ROBHAZ-DT3 with a water disrupter, a thermal scope and a long distance wireless communication device is developed and sent to the area of military tactics in Iraq. Consequently, the feasibility of the military version of ROBHAZ-DT3 is verified.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.127-132
• /
• 2016

For a practical mobile robot team such as carrying out a search and rescue mission in a disaster area, the localization have to be guaranteed even in an environment where the network infrastructure is destroyed or a global positioning system (GPS) is unavailable. The proposed architecture supports localizing robots seamlessly by finding their relative locations while moving from a global outdoor environment to a local indoor position. The proposed schemes use a cooperative positioning system (CPS) based on the two-way ranging (TWR) technique. In the proposed TWR-based CPS, each non-localized mobile robot act as tag, and finds its position using bilateral range measurements of all localized mobile robots. The localized mobile robots act as anchors, and support the localization of mobile robots in the GPS-shadow region such as an indoor environment. As a tag localizes its position with anchors, the position error of the anchor propagates to the tag, and the position error of the tag accumulates the position errors of the anchor. To minimize the effect of error propagation, this paper suggests the new scheme of full-mesh based CPS for improving the position accuracy. The proposed schemes assuring localization were validated through experiment results.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.47-52
• /
• 2013

In order to operate a search and rescue robot in hazardous area, the robot requires high mobility and adaptable locomotion for moving in unpredictable environments. In this paper, we propose the deformable soft wheel robot that can produce three kinds of driving modes; caterpillar driving mode, normal wheel driving mode, legged-wheel driving mode. The robot changes its driving mode as it faces the various obstacles such as a small gap, stairs etc. Soft film and composite materials are used for fabrication of deformable wheel structure and Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) coil spring actuators are attached on the structure as an artificial muscle. Film lamination and an composite manufacturing process is introduced and the robot design is required to be modified and compromised to applying the manufacturing process. The prototype is developed and tested for verifying feasibility of the deformable wheel locomotion.