Communications of the ACM
Firefighting Robot Paints 3D Thermal Imaging Picture For Rescuers
New techniques will allow robots to explore and map structural fires in real time.
Credit: hacknmod.com
New image-processing techniques will enable robots to quickly explore and characterize structural fires. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have designed an on-board software system to take thermal data recorded on a robot's small infrared camera and map it onto a three-dimensional (3D) scene constructed from images taken by a pair of stereo RGB cameras.
Robots would be able to create a virtual reality picture that includes a 3D map and temperature data, as part of a plan to assist fire fighters in residential and commercial blazes. They would work together both collaboratively and autonomously, and would provide an accurate augmented virtual reality picture of the building interior in real time to rescuers.
Researchers already have built the first prototype, which is a self-righting Segway-like vehicle that can climb stairs.
"To be useful, the robotic scouts need to work like well-trained hunting dogs, dispatching quickly and working together to achieve complex goals while making all necessary low-level decisions themselves along the way to get the job done," says UCSD professor Thomas Bewley.
From UCSD News (CA)
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