Robodogs is the jacket that combines technology with the scent-detection ability of dogs to speed up rescue missions during disasters.
The role of dogs in saving human lives from collapsed buildings due to earthquakes or natural disasters is nothing short of essential. Many four-legged heroes have helped find survivors thanks to their sense of smell and instinct. These traits can be enhanced simply by equipping them with a special jacket. This innovation is made possible by a jacket designed by Kazunori Ohno, a professor at Japan's Tohoku University.
A Technological Aid Suitable for All Types of Dogs
When technology meets the abilities of dogs, it creates the opportunity to save even more human lives while ensuring the safety of the four-legged rescuers. According to Kazunori Ohno, who started developing this project after the 2011 Eastern Japan earthquake, one of the biggest challenges in such scenarios is the handler's limited control over the dog. When the dog enters a hazardous structure, the handler often has no oversight of the situation.
Previously, similar technology was used for military dogs, but the limitations included weight and the inability to view footage in real-time.
With the invention from Tohoku University, everything becomes easier. The jacket, equipped with a 100-gram camera, a GPS device, a barometer, and a battery, weighs a total of 1.3 kilograms, making it suitable even for medium-sized dogs. These dogs are not only better suited to confined spaces, such as building rubble, and more adept at navigating tricky terrain than larger dogs, but they can also search for missing people for about two hours while wearing the jacket.
Additionally, the cameras, through an internet-connected system, transmit real-time images and sounds, enabling continuous monitoring of the situation inside the building. Moreover, the GPS allows the dog's path to be visualized on a digital map, facilitating nighttime searches.
The Unparalleled Abilities of Dogs
This is not the first time Kazunori Ohno has focused on rescue dogs and ways to optimize the search for missing persons. In the past, he designed and developed a rescue robot capable of working for extended periods in challenging environments. However, the drawback of this technology is that it cannot replicate the abilities of real dogs in locating people across large areas within a limited timeframe.
The camera-equipped jacket strikes the perfect balance between technology and the irreplaceable instinct of these animals.
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