Earlier, we have seen a robotic lifeguard saving people from drowning. But it seems like lifeguards of the future may soon come with aerials. Iranian research firm RTS Lab in Tehran is developing an aerial robot named Pars, designed to save drowning people near the coastlines.
Drones can help in several ways which humans can’t–they can move faster in vacillating seas, they always remain calm, and a drone will never fall asleep on the job. Based on these theory, some researchers at RTS Lab has started to build Pars.
Pars is a quadcopter. It is equipped with three life preservers, GPS navigation tools, artificial intelligence, sound and image processing, autopilot search and rescue and a wide array of sensors including a three axel gyroscope, barometer, and compass. Besides, it has a FLIR thermal camera for detecting people in the sea, as well as LED lighting so that the robot acts as a beacon in the dark. The Pars robot also has its own sea platform, where it retreats after a hard day’s work. The platform features solar panels to charge multiple ‘copters and uses satellite data for control.
When somebody drowns, he/she usually screams for help. As soon as Pars hears the sound, it starts to find from where the sound is coming. As soon as it locates the place, it rushes there and drops a life preserver to the drowning person as near as possible. The sinking person grabs the life preserver and remains safe until the human lifeguards come. On the other side, Pars can track its path by GPS positioning and return from its rescue mission without any user guidance.
At present Pars is in its very early stages and can carry up to three life preservers, but in future iterations, it would be able to carry 15 life preservers. That’s not all. In the future, Pars would also be able to land on water and float until a rescue vessel picks the drowning person up. When it would be available or what would be its price–these haven’t been mentioned.
Source: RTS Lab
Thanks To: Robots.net, Ubergizmo
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