48. Robotics in Hazardous Applications

Robotics researchers have worked hard to realize a long-awaited vision: machines carrying people from burning buildings or tunneling through collapsed rock falls to reach trapped miners. In this chapter we review progress. Researchers still have many challenges ahead of them but there has been remarkable progress in some areas. Hazardous environments present special challenges for the accomplishment of desired tasks depending on the nature and magnitude of the hazards. Hazards may be present in the form of radiological or toxicity dangers to potential explosions. Technology that specialized engineering companies can develop and sell without active help from researchers marks the frontier of feasibility. Just inside this border lie teleoperated robots for explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and for underwater engineering work. Even with the typical tenfold reduction in manipulation performance imposed by the limits of todayʼs telepresence and teleoperation technology, robots usually offer a more cost-effective solution. Most hazardous applications lie far beyond the frontier, although researchers managed to establish some limited inroads by the turn of the 21st century. Fire fighting, rescue operations, removing high-level nuclear contamination, reactor decommissioning, tunneling through rock falls, and most landmine and unexploded ordnance problems still present many unsolved problems.