6 The rubble of the World Trade Center created an extremely hazardous environment for human responders Chapter One Robot RESPONDERS It was September 11 2001 in the heart of New York City Fires raged at unbearable temperatures Dust and smoke filled the air impeding both sight and breathing The stability of the structures in the area was unknown It looked like a scene from a disaster movie but it was terribly real After being hit with hijacked jetliners the 110-floor twin towers of the World Trade Center had crumbled to the streets of Manhattan People ran toward the catastrophe in an effort to save lives However emergency responders were blocked by rubble in their search for survivors Piles of debris could have collapsed without warning Robots were brought to the scene to assist in the rescue effort One type of robot used was the PackBot These tough little robots looking like two miniature tank treads topped off with crane arms could get into places emergency workers could
8 not Working in tight poorly lit spaces with little or no oxygen these hardy machines could get into nooks and crannies to look for survivors and assess the stability of the debris The remote-controlled PackBot can navigate difficult terrain on its tanklike treads
9 No survivors were found by robots at the World Trade Center site but it is likely PackBots did save lives By testing the structural stability of buildings around the disaster area they were able to prevent workers from entering potentially dangerous areas The robots that were used were still under development According to Joe Dyer of iRobot the company behind PackBot the robots were literally pulled out of the laboratory and taken to 9 11 1 The disaster led to increased spending on rescue robots The US government dramatically increased funding for its military robot programs It focused on researching and developing robotic vehicles of all kinds Emergency Robots in Action The attacks of September 11 had not been the first disasters to demonstrate the need for these robots but they were a major example of how such robots could help Within ten years robots had advanced enormously Their use in war zones disasters areas and other emergency situations became commonplace Robots were a natural response to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster in Japan In March 2011 an ROBOT TASK FORCE While the disaster at the World Trade Center was unfolding on the morning of September 11 2001 one man took the lead in getting a diverse team of robots deployed to the site Lieutenant Colonel John Blitch served his last day with the US Army on September 10 When he heard the news about the attacks on Manhattan he put on his uniform and headed for New York City Blitch had spent three years leading a military robot program The program had funded several academic and corporate research efforts to make robots that could replace human soldiers in dangerous situations Within six hours of the attacks Blitch and other robot teams were at the site In total 17 different models of robots were used on the disaster site over an 11-day period 2
