Citation

Zhao J, Gao J, Zhao F, Liu Y. Sensors (Basel) 2017; 17(10): s17102426.

Affiliation

Key Laboratory of Intelligent Control and Decision of Complex System, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China. YiLiu@bit.edu.cn.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/s17102426

PMID

29065560

Abstract

This paper introduces a search-and-rescue robot system used for remote sensing of the underground coal mine environment, which is composed of an operating control unit and two mobile robots with explosion-proof and waterproof function. This robot system is designed to observe and collect information of the coal mine environment through remote control. Thus, this system can be regarded as a multifunction sensor, which realizes remote sensing. When the robot system detects danger, it will send out signals to warn rescuers to keep away. The robot consists of two gas sensors, two cameras, a two-way audio, a 1 km-long fiber-optic cable for communication and a mechanical explosion-proof manipulator. Especially, the manipulator is a novel explosion-proof manipulator for cleaning obstacles, which has 3-degree-of-freedom, but is driven by two motors. Furthermore, the two robots can communicate in series for 2 km with the operating control unit. The development of the robot system may provide a reference for developing future search-and-rescue systems.

Language: en

Keywords

coal mine; explosion-proof; manipulator; remote sensing; robot; search-and-rescue