A research group led by International Rescue System Institute, Chiba Institute of Technology and Tohoku University has developed Quince, a rescue robot, to collect rescue information in case of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRNE) disasters, including hazardous substance leaks in the underground malls or tall buildings, and terrorist attack using chemical agents. The achievement was produced by a research and development that has been conducted since 2006 as a part of the Strategic Project on Advanced Robot Component Technology Development by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). In a time of disaster, newly developed Quince runs at high speed through hazardous underground malls to help specify locations of victims, inspect a situation and collect information by remote control.

 Quince provides high performance as the following: run through disaster space including stairs and rubble piles, be dustproof and waterproof for decontamination, keep functioning when it is unanticipatedly dropped from a high place, calculate three-dimensional shapes of substances or spaces, send images and sounds from on-board cameras, to record integrated information from multiple robots.

 Quince can respond to both of disaster sites that require simple low-floor robots with high mobility and those that require high sensing abilities, by adopting a reconfigurable design concept by which basic functions and optional advanced functions are separated.

 We plan to equip Quince with various advanced functions so far developed, and deploy it until the end of this fiscal year in collaboration with Fire Departments nationwide. The research group will participate in RoboCup World Championship and Conference in Singapore through June 19 to 25, 2010. First responders at Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will examine our robot at a rescue robot evaluation exercise organized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) at Disaster City, Texas.

More Information (Japanese)

[Contact]

Satoshi Tadokoro, Professor

Graduate School of Information Sciences, Tohoku University

TEL: +81-22-795-7022, FAX: +81-22--795-7023

E-mail: tadokoro*rm.is.tohoku.ac.jp (Replace * with @)