Science & Technology

Related Resources

Homeland Security Components

Current National Threat Level is elevated

The threat level in the airline sector is High or Orange. Read more.

S&T Snapshots - Infrastructure & Geophysical

Automatic For the People

Viewing this video requires the Flash 9 plugin.

(July 2007) What will they think of next? That was the question facing government engineers at a recent test of robotic search-and-rescue technologies that may one day be used to save lives after a terrorist incident or natural disaster. Emergency responders from 16 states tested about 20 robots using two realistic training scenarios at Texas A&M University’s “Disaster City” training facility. The five-day event in June was sponsored by the S&T Directorate and organized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The goal was to put to the test robot performance using emerging standard test methods. The results will be used to develop usage guidelines that will match specific kinds of robots to particular disaster scenarios.

Contact

Request more information about this story.

This page was last reviewed/modified on August 17, 2009.