High-tech goes into action in disaster zone

Alan Boyle Science editor • Profile • E-mail

In the search for survivors of Hurricane Katrina, the little robot accompanying Florida Task Force 3 was a potential lifesaver — thanks to what it didn't find.

The VGTV Xtreme robot's service in Biloxi, Miss., illustrates how experimental high-tech tools are blending in with the traditional methods for disaster relief, and why such tools are likely to become more widespread in future disaster relief efforts.

And it's not just hardware: Katrina has sparked the development of software tools such as a meta-search engine for survivor lists, and interactive maps that match the needy with what's needed.

The problems with the response to Katrina's devastation show that the technologies related to disaster relief — ranging from communications to rapid-response transportation to search-and-rescue techniques — are sorely in need of an upgrade, said Lois Clark McCoy of the National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue.

"It does no good to shoot this group of sitting ducks and put in a new batch of sitting ducks," McCoy said, referring to the political finger-pointing already well under way. "The problem is not the people, the problem is the system. We have to redesign the system for catastrophic events."

Saving the rescuers
Among the innovations are gadgets that would allow first responders to deal with the aftermath of a catastrophe while limiting their exposure to risk themselves. And that's where the robot comes in.

Florida Task Force 3 is one of the many teams of firefighters, paramedics and law-enforcement officials from several states that have been sweeping through the disaster area looking for survivors or remains. Sometimes, the buildings to be searched are judged to be so unstable that they're not safe to be searched by humans.

"The big thing that the robots bring to the table is that they allow us to gather information without danger to the lives of the rescuers," explained Mark Micire, a technical search specialist with the task force who also owns a robotics company.

On two occasions during the task force's search through Biloxi, that's exactly how Micire's video-equipped mini-robot was used. Micire was particularly proud of how the VGTV Xtreme was used to search a ruined apartment building.

"We were able to go from the front door to the back door and essentially clear the building, and show that there was no one there," he said.

That allowed the team to move on and check other areas for survivors.

"Our team had five lives saved ... which is pretty amazing," Micire said. "For all of the darkness and gloom that's been cast over the entire disaster, when we demobilized, most of us were walking away feeling like we at least made a difference for five families."

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