Description: In order to search survivors in half-collapsed buildings at disastrous sites, rescue teams are always put in
danger when entering such locations. Thus, the demand for devices which would aid inspections in these sites has been
increasing. Such devices should be light weighted, to be able to be transported without problems throughout the disastrous
sites, and it should be small sized in order to insert them easily into the half-collapsed buildings. However, when it comes
to down sizing and making lighter, the device loses performance to inspect in a rubble environment. Thus, the requirements
for such devices are very severe: to be compact and to have high performance in rubble environments.
As a first idea, the authors have developed a jumping robot, which can roll on surfaces and jump over big obstacles. It is
compact (diameter=30cm, length=50cm) and weights around 2 kilograms, but since it uses compressed air as major power source,
it can jump over obstacles of 1 meter height by kicking out with a pneumatic cylinder. It provides fast inspection with its
rolling and jumping ability. However, the ground conditions can affect greatly its performance.
To overcome the problem of ground conditions, the Throw & Collect Rescue Inspector was developed. It is composed of a
throwing and a drawing mechanisms and a child machine equipped with camera. The parent robot is inserted to the site and
starts the inspection of the area. If an obstacle is in the way, it throws out a child machine with its magnetic brake
pneumatic cylinder, and the inspection can be performed beyond the obstacle. The child machine is then collected back, by
drawing back the tube which connects it to the parent robot. With this method, the ground conditions do not affect the throw,
therefore, it can be done many times into different directions. It is also possible to inspect a higher level of the
building by throwing the child machine from outside. The child machine can also be disposable for a more faster search. The
throwing mechanism can be used manually, or it can be equipped by a small robot, being a handy device when it comes to
inspecting areas which endangers life.
This report shows the robots' main structures and its performance through experiments.

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Contact Information: Eyri Watari - eyri.watari@cm.ctrl.titech.ac.jp - +81-3-5734-3085
                     Hideyuki Tsukagoshi - htsuka@cm.ctrl.titech.ac.jp - +81-3-5734-3724