Robots to the Rescue in a Nuclear Crisis: "In Contest for Rescue Robots, DARPA Offers $2 Million Prize"

Friday, October 26, 2012

"In Contest for Rescue Robots, DARPA Offers $2 Million Prize"

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"The Pentagon’s advanced research agency said on Wednesday that it will offer a prize of $2 million to the winners of a contest testing the performance of robots that could be used in emergencies like the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan."

Source: October 24 article on the NY Times Bits blog by John Markoff.

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About this blog and the author

When disasters occur, governments and established instututions often seem incapable of acting in a timely and creative way. We need to empower creative individuals to step forward with their own solutions. We need to empower improvization, and thinking out-of-the-box.

For example, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, recovery efforts were hampered by a lack of communications. One man familiar with the internet went to the rural areas of Louisiana, and set up many internet hubs connected to satellites. People were able to contact loved ones, and find out what was going on.

After the earthquake in Haiti, an internet-based system called "Ushahidi" helped with search and rescue, then recovery. It helped to coordinate and provide curcial information to many independent actors.

When miners were trapped by a cave-in in Chile, an American volunteered his innovative drill for the rescue effort. It was able to reach the miners faster than any of the other efforts.

Billions of people together are more creative and "wise" than any one, hidebound institution. We need to find ways to harness our collective creativity, in times of emergency.

I'm a retired scientist (Ph.D. in Zoology). I've followed many fields of science, including robotics and nuclear power. I have especially followed disasters, such as Katrina and the Chilean mine cave-in. At the same time I started this blog, I made an application to the X-Prize Foundation, asking that they fund a competition for a disaster robot. That goal has finally been realized with the DARPA contest for such a robot.