Snake Robots Support Earthquake Search and Rescue in Venezuela

Carnegie Mellon University researchers worked alongside international search and rescue teams in Venezuela to explore collapsed buildings with snake robots(opens in new window) following two massive earthquakes that devastated cities. 

The robots, developed in the School of Computer Science’s Robotics Institute(opens in new window), look and move like snakes. They can slither into tight spaces, and a camera mounted on the front of the robot gives responders a look inside spaces people can’t access. CMU researchers hope this technology can improve the search for survivors.

“What struck me most was not a lack of interest in technology; it was the opposite. First responders were eager for tools that solve real problems without adding complexity,” said Kimberly Elenberg(opens in new window), a member of the CMU team who went to Venezuela and a retired Army and U.S. Public Health Service nurse with extensive disaster-response experience. 

Two earthquakes struck the northern part of Venezuela on June 24, and recent reports(opens in new window) indicate that more than 5,000 people have died as a result. About 16,800 people were injured, and nearly 6,500 people have been rescued. The earthquakes left about 18,000 people homeless. The CMU team worked with the Venezuelan and Colombian Red Cross, members of Mexico's Topos search and rescue team,(opens in new window) volunteers, and search and rescue teams from around the world in La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit cities in the country. 

The team helped search several sites during three days in Venezuela from June 30 to July 3. While the team did not locate any survivors, surveying a location and determining no one was trapped helped search and rescue crews and reassured loved ones.

“The Venezuelan people are extraordinary. Despite unimaginable loss, they showed us remarkable kindness, resilience and gratitude. In only a few days, I came to feel genuinely connected to them,” said Howie Choset(opens in new window), the Kavčić-Moura Professor of Computer Science and director of the Biorobotics Lab(opens in new window). “This mission was a powerful reminder of both our shared humanity and the promise and challenges of deploying robotics during disasters.”

In addition to Choset and Elenberg, the CMU team included Biorobotics Lab members Nico Zevallos-Roberts(opens in new window) and Darwin Mick. RI staff members Yizhu Gu(opens in new window), Lu Li(opens in new window) and Ralph Boirum(opens in new window) worked around the clock to prepare the systems for transport before the team left. 

The hope that CMU’s snake robots could help started with Beatriz Gonzalez, a native Venezuelan living in Atlanta who was scouring the internet for anyone who could assist search and rescue efforts in her home country. Gonzalez works in technology and product development and knew there had to be something that could navigate deep into collapsed structures, help locate survivors and allow rescue teams to prioritize search locations.

“Rescue teams knew people were missing, but they didn't know where to focus their efforts within the massive debris field. Every hour mattered,” Gonzalez said. “That led me to research existing search and rescue robotics. During my research, I came across an article about the Biorobotics Lab deploying its snake robots alongside the Red Cross during the 2017 Mexico City earthquake. 

“It was exactly the type of technology I had imagined.”

Gonzalez reached out to Choset and within 24 hours, the CMU team and their snake robots were in Miami, waiting for a flight to Venezuela. 

Once in La Guaira, the researchers encountered changing conditions, equipment failures, logistical challenges and language barriers. Zevallos-Roberts' fluency in Spanish and his Ecuadorian background helped the team communicate with responders and local families. Mick operated and made repairs to the snake robot during searches inside collapsed buildings. Elenberg used her disaster-response experience to help establish operational logistics, including power-generation and life-support planning that kept both the team and the robotic systems functioning in the field.

The work tested the limits of the robotic systems, but also highlighted the critical role logistics, power, communications and transportation play in success. It is one thing for a robot to work in the lab. It is another thing for it to work in the field, where the stakes are high and conditions are not ideal. 

“We have to stop designing robots for demonstrations and start designing them around the realities of the people who will depend on them,” Elenberg said. “If a capability can help locate survivors after a disaster, it can also improve care in emergency departments, during pandemics or in the ICU. That’s the promise of dual-use technology: democratizing advanced capabilities so they’re available wherever lives are on the line.” 

As the team worked, new research questions and directions arose that will help improve the reliability, portability and operational readiness of robotic systems designed for disaster response. The deployment revealed technical and operational shortcomings the researchers will need to address before systems like these can become more dependable tools for disaster-response teams.

“What makes me proudest is my team. Their professionalism, technical excellence and willingness to leave everything behind on a moment’s notice filled me with pride,” Choset said. “This deployment also reinforced two important conclusions. First, I genuinely believe no university other than Carnegie Mellon could have assembled the people, technology and culture needed to respond as rapidly and effectively as we did. Second, the mission exposed fundamental research challenges that only academia is positioned to solve.”

More information about the Biorobotics Lab(opens in new window) is available on its website. For more information about working with snake robots in the field, contact Howie Choset(opens in new window).