May 20, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1424

TOKYO: They look like something out of a science fiction movie, but they are real.

One resembles a giant spider, another calls to mind a stubby snake or a worm.

But Japanese researchers think robots like these, built to detect landmines or search rubble for earthquake survivors, may soon save human lives.

“Give us about five years and I think we can show the world something pretty impressive,” says Tokyo Institute of Technology Professor Shigeo Hirose.

His state-funded work is an example of efforts to develop robots for use outside factories, where most now operate.

Officials and researchers in Japan, home to almost half the world’s 756,000 industrial robots, hope a new robot industry will give the stagnant economy a boost. But designers of rescue and mine detection robots stress they are not working for profit.

“To be able to save people like those who didn’t survive the (1995) Kobe earthquake — that’s the aim of our research,” says Satoshi Tadokoro, chairman of the International Rescue System Institute, a non-profit organisation developing disaster relief technology with state funding.

Japan is not alone in this field.

Rescue robots helped search through the rubble of the World Trade Center after the September 11 attacks in the United States. Remote-controlled, unmanned vehicles have helped clear mines in countries such as Cambodia.

Japanese researchers want to advance the technology by improving mobility or making robots more autonomous.

“In terms of fieldable (rescue) robots, the US is far ahead,” Robin Murphy, director for US-based Center for Robot- Assisted Search and Rescue said in a telephone interview.

But researchers in Japan are looking at “advanced concepts that will pay off in five or 10 years,” said Murphy, whose centre organised the use of rescue robots at the World Trade Center.

Souryu, or blue dragon, is a 1.16 metre long remote-controlled robot designed by Tokyo Institute of Technology’s Hirose.

The snake-like Souryu crawls using six tracks, two on each side of its three-part body. It is equipped with a camera and microphone to search for victims, and can bend at the joints or roll over on its side to manoeuvre through rubble.

The COMET III, a spider-like robot designed by Chiba University professor Kenzo Nonami, is part of a state-funded project to develop demining technologies for Afghanistan.

Four metres long and weighing one ton, the COMET III walks on six sturdy metal legs. An additional limb in front is equipped with a metal detector and radar to find mines, a second sprays paint on the ground to mark the spot.

“My belief is that people shouldn’t have to do dangerous tasks,” says Nonami, whose aim is to make an autonomous robot that can move and spot landmines on its own.

Nonami hopes to test a new version of the robot in Afghanistan this year, if the Afghan government asks for such testing and Japan’s cabinet approves.

DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD: Researchers are concerned their robots might be adapted for military use.

“We need to publicise the fact that our research is intended for rescue activities and not for war,” says Fumitoshi Matsuno, a professor at the University of Electro-Communications.

It’s a dilemma, especially since the US military is showing signs of interest in their work. Tokyo Institute of Technology’s Hirose says that in April he met an adviser from the Tokyo-based US Army Research Office Far East that promotes joint research between the army and scientists in the region.

Hirose says the adviser raised the possibility of joint research on robot technology related to de-mining. Hirose replied that he might be interested if the aim was humanitarian.

A US Army official said the meeting was “exploratory”.

“Of course robotics in Japan is of keen interest to the US armed forces, not just the US Army,” said Colonel Richard Ryles, head of the US Army Material Command’s Office for International Cooperative Programs Far East at Camp Zama near Tokyo.

“Anything a human can do, we’re investigating how an intelligent machine can replace, augment or supplement human behaviours and workload.”

Robots are playing a growing role in the US arsenal, with devices that scout enemy positions, sniff for chemical and biological warfare agents and slither down sewers or under doors to collect intelligence.

“Eventually we may see fully-automated tanks... I think it’s just a matter of time before we see a robot war,” predicts Nonami.—Reuters