Robotic Salvation

The automatic assistance during natural disasters

Photo by James A. Molnar on Unsplash

Prevention from nature’s havoc is beyond human limits. History is filled with instances of wreck caused by natural disasters. These catastrophes include floods, earthquakes, storms, tsunamis, which either hit seasonally or without an advance warning, engendering human casualty, livestock destruction, infrastructure demolition and economic loss in its wake. On an average, 45,000 people breathe their last due to nature’s unfortunate phenomena in the past decade which accounts to about 0.1% global deaths (Ritchie & Roser, 2014). The heedless outlook of mankind towards their land has taken a toll on climate change hence resulting in frequent natural hazards.

However, despite a significant increase in the number of disasters, four-fold rise in population and rapid climatic changes there has been an overall decline of 92% in death rates caused by disastrous nature since the last century (Shellenberger, 2022). Thus, even though averting a natural calamity is close to impossible, science and technology have immensely contributed to minimize the fatalities. The progress in the field of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence enables to preserve the world from the future troubles of nature by remodeling the disaster relief techniques, here is how:

1. Projecting and Plotting

Wouldn’t a disaster be less cataclysmic if it could be foretold exactly when nature will strike? Or the intensity of the catastrophe can be predicted even before it is afflicted? Or a map of all the vulnerable locations can be plotted? Surely, not only necessary arrangements will be made to tackle the tribulation headed ahead but numerous lives could be saved from their doom.

This is where Artificial Intelligence comes in. Scientists and researchers feed the AI networks with extensive and precise data of previous disastrous incidents. At present, AI systems are trained to utilize these sets of data with real-time information and project the following four natural disasters:

• Earthquakes: Data collected through seismic imaging is analyzed by AI systems to anticipate the magnitude and speculate the patterns of earthquakes as well as aftershocks. Google and Harvard have formulated a neural network, through the evaluation of 131,000 earthquakes, which has precisely located the aftershocks’ position in many cases. Similarly, researchers at Stanford have developed the Earthquake Transformer, an algorithm that investigates large numbers of earthquakes and detects less intense ones. Japan is also processing images from the satellites to discern earthquakes.
• Floods: Even though climatic conditions make the prediction of floods somewhat complicated but Artificial Intelligence studies rainfall records, satellite imaging and climate patterns to monitor flooding. Google is developing an AI system which will not only foretell about floods in India but will also alert the inhabitants through Google’s consumer applications such as Maps and Google Search.
• Volcanic Eruptions: Volcanoes tend to be an immense source of constant danger for life around volcanic areas. Scientists are developing AI applications to identify ash particles and type of volcanoes they belong to. IBM is establishing Waston which with the help of seismic and geological information will be able to predict volcanic eruptions and their intensity.
• Hurricanes and tornadoes: These catastrophes have resulted in enormous property damage. Satellite imaging is being used to determine the course of hurricanes, tornadoes, and storms. This has allowed us to monitor the forces of such calamities every hour as opposed to every six hours. NASA and Development Seed studied Hurricane Harvey through satellite imaging.

The analysis of such disasters through Artificial Intelligence brings forth a better understanding about the triggers of such natural hazards, the distribution of these adverse events over the timeline and the actions to be executed that will make the world less prone to destruction.

2. Rescue Robots

Imagine an earthquake hits an established district, causing chaos all around. The infrastructure collapses and roads demolish. Some people manage to escape but some unfortunate ones could not flee in time hence getting stuck under the debris of a collapsed building. They hope for a rescue team to arrive and save them but there is also a limit to the powers of such rescuers if the victims are buried deep under the wreckage and the roads are futile. Similarly, during floods, there are inadequate measures to connect and provide disaster relief to the trapped population. It is during such catastrophes that robotic assistance is required since disaster struck areas are mostly inaccessible for humans.

Here are how rescue robots are being used in different topographies:

• Land: The unreachable remnants of a natural disaster require unmanned ground vehicles to search and locate the entrapped people. Tiny robots designed with treads are preferred since they can easily move the remains. Further advancements have led to the development of robots that can also recognize heartbeats under the rubble. Delta Extreme is a rescue robot that demonstrated itself to be useful by searching the detritus after the Hurricane Katrina. Guardian S, another crawler, due to its snake-like movement slithers effortlessly and gathers information about the damage for the rescue team. Fire-fighter robots like Colossus, Thermite RS1-T3 and RS2-T2 have blasted gallons of water per minute to save those ensnared by the fire.
• Air: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles conquer the air rescue with a substantial range and endurance. Drones dominate the sky during natural disasters by providing an aerial perspective of the extent of damage, locating the entrapped citizens, and laying out the rapidly transforming circumstances for human rescue teams. Drones have constantly been used to supply disaster relief to enmeshed inhabitants. A startup called Ziplines constructed autonomous aerial vehicles to deliver medical supplies, their initial trial was to provide blood plasma to remote hospitals in Rwanda. The engineers in the field of robotics are now progressing towards introducing machine learning into UAVs so they become better at adapting to the surroundings.

Photo by david henrichs on Unsplash

• Sea: The powerful currents are unreliable for a human to travel further up into the sea. Water rescue robots act as the substitute since they do not need to breathe and hence are not as vulnerable to the sea. Velox has silicone fins that enable it to swim in the water, skate on ice and push through snow making it an ideal water rescuer. EMILY (Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard) can travel effortlessly through strong rip currents to salvage drowning people.

There is no denying the fact that disaster robotics have a long way to go but the emerging technologies combined with the extensive research in the department of Artificial Intelligence will eventually be able to make this world a safer place.

Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2014). Natural Disasters. Our World In Data. Natural Disasters — Our World in Data

Shellenberger, M. (2022). Why disasters have declined. Forbes. Why Disasters Have Declined (forbes.com)

Gossett, S. (2019). 10 examples of Rescue Robots. Builtin. 10 Examples Of Rescue Robots You Should Know | Built In

Joshi, N. (2019). How AI can and will predict data. Forbes. How AI Can And Will Predict Disasters (forbes.com)

This article was written by Izna Awais — Social Media Assistant and Writer at RAC’23.

Follow our Social Media to stay updated on all the recent news about webinars, seminars, workshops, and competitions. — https://linktr.ee/rac_socialmedia