Japanese robots can sniff the survivors

The Japan Emergency Rescue Agency will test a small rescue robot resembling a toy tank, looking for survivors in the wreckage and providing mobile phones, water and eat for these victims.

The firefighters in Chiba City in eastern Tokyo say they will test the QUINCE prototype next month.

According to Eiji Koyanagi, a robotics expert at the Chiba Institute of Technology, 'if people are buried in despair, if the robots provide mobile phones, they will not feel alone. If robots provide water and food, they can continue to suffer. '

The QUINCE robot, the size of a toddler's car, has a robotic arm that can be controlled remotely to twist the doorknob, move in ruins caused by earthquakes or other disasters and carry according to what is important to life.

Rescuers can control this arm at a distance by connecting the computer to the images obtained from the camera of the robot.

The machine is also equipped with infrared sensors and CO2 sensors to 'sniff' survivors through the detection of body heat or breath and thereby forming a three-dimensional map of space. The location of the survivor is based on the robot route.

Four clusters of wheels, each of which are used to operate the tank's rubber-like chain, are combined with six electric motors so that the robot can travel on rough terrain with a slope of up to 82 degrees.

Stuck people can also hear the voice of a rescue worker through a robot-mounted loudspeaker.