Robot to the rescue: University of Warwick students gear up for European championship

Engineering students at the University of Warwick are developing and building an innovative rescue robot, which will compete at the European RoboCup Rescue Championship.

The team of eight WMG and Engineering undergraduates will be searching for success in April when they take their search and rescue robot to Germany for the competition.

Their tele-operated robot will be used to navigate through a simulated earthquake disaster area, searching, locating and helping victims. The robot uses a series of human detection devices, including web-camera, CO2 sensor and infra-red camera to search for survivors.

Two years ago the Warwick Mobile Robotics team won first place overall and best in class for mobility at the European championship with their robot, designed to crawl over difficult terrain such as destroyed buildings in search of trapped survivors.

And the current crop of students are hoping to emulate that when they compete later this year, redesigning the arm and head of the robot to make it more reliable. The team has also developed the ability to map the robot’s journey through the maze and produce a visual display of the result to the operator.

The team is being backed by WMG academic, Dr Emma Rushforth, who believes the project will give the students an excellent opportunity showcase their skills.

She said: “As well as giving each team member experience in solving real engineering problems, the project offers them the chance to acquire unparalleled expertise in mobile robot design which, in future, companies will need to have.”