Ground breaking

A Robot that will dig like a mole to locate survivors under rubble in urban disaster zones, such as in the aftermath of an earthquake or terrorist attack, is being developed.

Much of the digging technique will be based on that of a mole and the robot will be able to move obstacles out if its path as it burrows through the debris.

The two-year project at Manchester University’s School of Computer Science, aims to create an experimental robotic prototype with the most energy-efficient digging technique possible.

Prof Robin Scott, the project’s lead researcher, said that the team’s decision to base the design on a mole was in part inspired by seeing how efficient past biomimetic designs have been.

‘It seems to be the case that nature often finds the most efficient way of tackling a problem, something that other researchers have already discovered,’ said Scott. ‘This robot needs to be particularly efficient as it will have to work on its own, untethered, for some time underground.’