ABSTRACT
One of the first practical issues in creating robots for Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) and related domains is how to get the robot sufficiently into the structure to begin mission-sensing. In USAR, robots are needed to enter confined spaces, on the order of 0.5 to 2 meters in any characteristic dimension. A robot platform on the order of 0.33 square (or less) is ideal, but a platform of that size introduces serious constraints. First, the size of an autonomous robot platform is mostly dictated by the volume of its batteries. USAR is an extremely rugged terrain, so it demands power. Current systems such as the iRobot Urban with a FLIR thermal camera can operate only on the order of 20 minutes in USAR terrain. Unfortunately, most of this 20-minute time period can be spent getting to an area of interest.
