The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is attempting to develop standard performance tests for robotic rescue machines.
"It is challenging to develop test standards as the robots are still evolving. Standards are usually set for products already in use," said research head Elena Messina.
Part of the problem is not having standard environments.
"It is critical for developers to be able to compare results, which is not possible without reproducible test environments," said Messina, "You can't reproduce a rubble pile, so we have reproducible rough terrain that everyone can build in their labs. This way, developers in Japan can run tests, and people in Chicago can understand what the robot achieved."
Some three dozen rescue robots were recently tested by NIST at Disaster City in Texas.
Exercises included electrical, physical, and data processing tests.
For example, battery capacity was measured by performing figure eights on undulating terrain, and mobility was quantified by moving through increasingly challenging structures: beginning with climbing steps, then ramps, then steps with unequal gaps.
In a data gathering challenge, a robot must traverse a simulated wooded area that has uneven terrain and create a map using its sensors.
"Researchers came from across the globe to collect data to feed into their mapping algorithms," said a NIST spokeswoman.
Communications and manipulator tests are also being developed.
"Exercises will be submitted to [standards body] ASTM International as a potential rescue robot test standard," said the spokeswoman.
A video can be seen at www.teexblog.blogspot.com
A robot travels through simulated uneven wooded terrain, sending back data for algorithms to process into maps.