The Prairie Pooch Hole
The Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) of the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech won the grand prize at the 2008 International Capstone Design Fair with a trio of pole-climbing serpentine robots designed to take the place of construction workers tasked with dangerous jobs such as inspecting high-rises or underwater bridge piers. The autonomous robots are designed to climb scaffolding and buildings by wrapping around a poll or beam and then rolling upward via an oscillating joint motion. Using built-in sensors and cameras, the robots would then inspect the structures or handle other dangerous tasks now done by humans, said Dennis Hong, director of Virginia Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory and the faculty adviser on the project.
The robots are each roughly three feet in length and use a movement unique even in nature. “These are really wicked cool robots,” he added.
The need for autonomous tools in the construction field is great. Hong cites a 2006 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report that tracked the workplace deaths of 1,226 construction workers in 2006, an increase of 3 percent from 2005. The same report listed 809 deaths as a result of falls from raised structures such as scaffolding, Hong said.
As hard as it is to believe, I knew a man - later divorced, who built a house with a room in the upper floor. The only way into the room was by a "fireman pole." Seems he didn't want to be nagged. I don't know it for a fact, but I highly suspect he feared that his wife wanted to hook him up to one of them Japanese Torture Devices! (see previous blog)
If in danger from frying pans and the like, I wonder whether this here device would help me avoid danger? What is its maximum lift capacity?
Pooch "Worried in Texas" Doggy Dog
PS Why can't the Japanese stick to cars and cameras?
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