Snake Robot Urban Search After the 2017 Mexico City Earthquake

Abstract

The Carnegie Mellon University Biorobotics Laboratory was invited to bring snake robots to Mexico City to assist with search and rescue efforts in the wake of the September 2017 earthquake. We travelled with the Mexican Red Cross to collapsed building sites, and deployed a snake robot within one building to obtain a camera view in two voids that conventional search cameras could not access. We confirmed that the an open area within the building was unoccupied. In this paper we describe our experiences during the deployment and the limitations of snake robot platform encountered along the way.