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Elon Musk's mini-sub was 'not practical' for Thailand cave rescue
The Thai cave rescue is over, with all 12 boys and their coach safely above ground. Elon Musk's miniature submarine clearly arrived too late. However, it's now clear that it wouldn't have seen use regardless. In the last few hours of the operation, joint command center lead Narongsak Ostanakorn told Musk that his tech was "good and sophisticated," but that it was "not practical" for the rescue. While officials haven't provided detailed reasoning, a look at the logistics of the rescue might explain why.
Elon Musk is sending teams to assist with the Thailand cave rescue
Elon Musk has offered assistance in the rescue of the boys' soccer team trapped in a cave in Thailand. Engineers from SpaceX and The Boring Company will travel to the country on Saturday to help with what is becoming an increasingly perilous rescue effort. As CNN reports, conditions are becoming life-threatening, with a former navy diver involved in the operation losing his life after a sudden drop in oxygen levels underground.
Watch a medevac drone perform a simulated rescue
Medevac missions won't have to put more humans in danger if Tactical Robotics has its way. The Urban Aeronautics-owned firm has successfully completed its first "mission representative" demo of the Cormorant, an autonomous VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) drone that can pick up two casualties without requiring a crew. The only people directly involved are those loading the victims -- there's a video camera for talking to conscious patients, but the machine otherwise flies on its own.
Lifeguard drone completes world-first ocean rescue
Australia's 'Little Ripper' drone has saved a pair of swimmers caught in rough seas in what's thought to be a world-first rescue operation. Lifeguards were busy testing the UAV off Lennox Head as part of New South Wales' $250,000 shark-spotting strategy when the distress call came in. Within 70 seconds the aerial helper had tracked down the stranded duo and dropped them a flotation pod, which they used to safely make their way to shore, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Soft-legged robot is designed for rescue missions
Soft robots typically have squishy bodies and limbs so that they can squeeze into the tightest spaces. If they're to be used for search and reconnaissance missions, though, they'll need to be able to navigate rough terrains. A team of engineers from the University of California San Diego have created a soft robot that can do just that. They made a four-legged machine that can not only wriggle into confined spaces, but also climb over obstacles and walk on sand, pebbles, rocks and even inclined surfaces. The team's secret? A high-end 3D printer that can print soft and rigid materials together.
Mercedes gives first responders an AR view of its cars
Only advertisers love QR codes, but Mercedes-Benz actually made them useful in the real world. By putting the codes on the B-pillars and gas doors of its vehicles, firefighters can use its Rescue Assist app and quickly figure out how to help folks involved in an accident. The automaker made the latest version easier to use by adding augmented reality (AR) and 3D visualization features. That lets first responders see dangerous components -- like fuel lines and high-voltage components in electric and hybrid cars -- overlaid on the real-world vehicle, Pokémon-style.
Drone helps rescue trapped rafters
Drones aren't just useful as scouts and signalers during rescue operations -- they can play a hand in the actual rescue, too. When the Auburn Fire Department went to help recover two young men stranded in the middle of rapids in Mechanics Falls, Maine, Fire Chief Frank Roma used a DJI Phantom 3 to deliver a tag line that carried a much-needed life jacket. It also doubled as an observer while emergency crews sent an inflatable boat to bring the men back to shore, as you can see in the video below. While Roma notes that the Phantom 3 was his personal machine rather than official equipment, he's eager to see drones used more often in the field. This only "scratch[es] the surface," he tells TV network WMTW. It'll be a while before robots are carrying you out of danger, unfortunately, but that key role in a river rescue offers a glimpse of what's possible.
Rescue drone that can search buildings wins $1 million prize
A clever, bizarre-looking drone that may one day save your butt has won a million bucks in the UAE's Drones for Good competition. Flyability's GimBall has the unusual ability to squeeze into tight indoor spaces and search for potential disaster victims, thanks to its geodesic design. The entire UAV is effectively a two-prop, electronically stabilized gimball surrounded by a tough, lightweight carbon fiber cage. Instead of trying to pull off the daunting task of avoiding obstacles, the GimBall can just plow right into them, bounce off and then carry on to its destination. It can even roll along the ground or a ceiling like Parrot's MiniDrone.
Surge the rescue robot is RoboSimian's more evolved sibling
It looks like the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory team responsible for RoboSimian's existence has been busy this year, creating its possible substitute for the DARPA Robotics Challenge finale. The result? A robot that stands upright at 4.5 feet and weighs in at 200 pounds called Surrogate, or Surge for short. It's more human-like than its predecessor, with its two arms, a head and a spine, which allows it to manipulate objects better. It also has Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) equipment on its head, which gives it the capability to create 3D maps of various locations using laser beams. Problem is, it can't climb rough or tall terrain, because it uses caterpillar tracks. Plus, its body only has room for one set of cameras.
Snakebot and quadcopter combo makes for a go-anywhere rescue drone
Everyone has different ideas on what the perfect search-and-rescue robot is, and for a University of Pennsylvania Mod Lab team, it comes in the form of a snake drone-quadcopter chimera. The Hybrid Exploration Robot for Air and Land Deployment or H.E.R.A.L.D. is composed of two snake-like machines that attach via magnets to a UAV. After being carried to the site by the quadcopter, the snake bots can detach themselves, slip through the holes and cracks of a collapsed building, for instance, and slither to their destination. The researchers have been working on H.E.R.A.L.D. since 2013, but now that all its components can properly merge and work together like the robots in Power Rangers, they presented it at the 2014 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. You can watch the machine ace the tests its creators put it through in the vid after the break, including a part where a researcher used an Xbox controller to navigate a snakebot through a pipe.
