Photos: Robot makers rev their rescue-bots

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  • Ludek Zalud and gear

    Ludek Zalud and gear

    Robot makers put their gear into action Monday for a round of performance tests hosted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Institutes of Standards and Technologies. The tests were intended to help search and rescue operations, both governmental and private, make purchase decisions.

    In this photo, Brno University of Technology professor Ludek Zalud wears goggles he designed to let the wearer see what the rescue robot sees.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Zalud and goggles

    Zalud and goggles

    Zalud said his goal is to make the use of robots as intuitive as possible, since most of the people using the devices are rescuers, not robotics specialists. The Czech researcher and others were at the Montgomery County Fire Rescue Training Academy in Rockville, Md., for the performance tests.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • PackBot Scout

    PackBot Scout

    The PackBot Scout from Roomba maker iRobot takes a leap off a 4-foot-high table to demonstrate its capabilities. The Scout has been used by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • AirRobot

    AirRobot

    Other equipment at the event was actually built to go airborne. The 2-pound AirRobot, from a German company of the same name, carries still, video and thermal imaging cameras and can use GPS to measure and track objects and places from the air. It's being piloted here by CEO Burkhard Wiggerich.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Soryu V

    Soryu V

    The snakelike Soryu V is designed to slip into tiny spaces and, like many of the other robots at the DHS/NIST event, to go into places that might be too dangerous for human rescuers. The snake-bot is a pet project of Shigeo Hirose at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Inuktun's VGTV

    Inuktun's VGTV

    If the term "robot" conjures up images of two-legged androids, think again. Many current designs come in more geometric shapes, with tracks in place of feet. This 10-inch-tall triangle of a bot is the VGTV, from Inuktun Services of Nanaimo, British Columbia. It can be used for pipeline inspection as well as surveillance and search and rescue.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

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PackBot Scout

The PackBot Scout from Roomba maker iRobot takes a leap off a 4-foot-high table to demonstrate its capabilities. The Scout has been used by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Caption by: Bill Detwiler

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