[a class="title" href="vny!://www.pinktentacle.com/2006/02/giant-snow-rescue-robot-put-to-the-test/" style="text-decoration: none;" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Giant snow rescue robot put to the test"]Giant snow rescue robot put to the test[/a] [div class="cite"]Translated by Edo on 2006.02.2 ::: Category: [a href="vny!://www.pinktentacle.com/category/robot/" title="View all posts in Robot" rel="category tag"]Robot[/a]
[/div] A giant rescue robot with "feet" like a bulldozer and arms 5 meters in length is undergoing practical testing at Nagaoka University of Technology (Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture). Designed for avalanche disaster relief and snow removal operations, the robot — known as T-52 Enryu (lit. "rescue dragon") — is being developed by [a title="tmsuk English page" href="vny!://www.tmsuk.co.jp/english/robots.html"]tmsuk[/a], a Kitakyushu-based robot manufacturer. T-52 Enryu stands 3.45 meters tall and weighs 5 tons.[/p] [div style="text-align: center;"][img alt="T-52 Enryu, the snow rescue robot" title="T-52 Enryu, the snow rescue robot" src="vny!://www.pinktentacle.com/images/enryu.jpg" border="1"][/div] In the tests, which began on February 1, T-52 Enryu showed off its avalanche prevention skills by removing accumulated snow from the edge of a cliff. The robot also demonstrated its ability to extract a car buried under a bank of snow. Remote control operation is being tested at avalanche sites, where extreme caution is required to prevent secondary avalanches.[/p] Tetsuya Kimura, an associate professor conducting rescue robot research at Nagaoka University of Technology, says, "In addition to performing avalanche-related work, we hope the robot will be useful in removing snow around the entrances to underground shopping arcades or tunnels." Tmsuk aims to put T-52 Enryu to practical use in another year or two. Testing will be open to the public on February 4.[/p] [Source: [a title="Yomiuri Shimbun" href="vny!://www.yomiuri.co.jp/"]Yomiuri Shimbun[/a], [a title="Impress Watch" href="vny!://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2006/0202/tmsuk.htm"]Impress Watch[/a]] [/p]
