Researchers in the Mountain West have developed a remote-control robot that can alert safety inspectors of potential rockslides.
The little robot is a foot or two long, with an audio recorder and a stick topped with a silver ball. Once against a rock, the robot named ‘Brutus’ swings the stick and starts to tap.
Dr. Fernando Moreu is an assistant professor in engineering and the director of the University of New Mexico lab that made Brutus. He said without a robot like this, inspectors have to tap the rocks and see if it sounds healthy, or cracked and dangerous.
“For the first time the inspector doesn’t need to remember in their head the sound,” Moreu said. “It’s very difficult for humans to remember the sound, so Brutus will record those sounds.”
The robot’s algorithm sifts through the recorded sounds and alerts the inspector to instabilities, then the inspector identifies and removes the rock before it falls.
Moreu said with Brutus, things can be more efficient and safer for inspectors on roadsides.
The team hopes to customize Brutus to work in many situations, like inspecting historic buildings, piers or underwater infrastructure.
The audio of Brutus tapping a rock is from a video provided by Dr. Fernando Moreu.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
