This Robot Collects Fingerprints

Roland Piquepaille writes "When police officers found suspicious packages today in an airport or a train station, they destroyed them immediately, along with potential fingerprints on them. A new robotic device, dubbed RAFFE (short for "Robot Accessory for Fuming Fingerprint Evidence), developed by scientists from the University of Toronto (U of T) and the University of Calgary, offers a solution to this problem. Mounted on an ordinary robot, it will reveal fingerprints by releasing Super Glue on the object. Then it will take pictures of these fingerprints. The Calgary Police Service is already using RAFFE for field tests. This overview contains more details and extra references."

Comments

Yergblerghas

[Anonymous Coward]

Mounted on an ordinary robot

Great, the T-1000 series try to extinguish humanity by smothering us with Super Glue fumes.

Christmas presents

[r_glen]

Squirt gun - age 7
Remote control vehicle - age 10
Camera - age 14

Dammit, I could have invented this thing 10 years ago!

Cartoon in the making?

[Jaywalk]

I can just see a Looney Tune scenario in the making when someone touches a bomb covered with Super Glue . . .

(Oh, admit it. You thought the same thing.)

Just what we need...

[Anonymous Coward]

...a glue-sniffing robot. I can already see hordes of them loitering on street corners in dingy Slipknot t-shirts pestering me for change.

Proud Canadian

[dolo666]

I'm Canadian and I'm always really happy when I hear of advances in science from our great nation. I'm tired of hearing Canada being labled as a safe-haven for terrorists, and it makes me proud to know that our universities are continuing to contribute to the capture and conviction of terrorists all over the world. By securing the lives of law enforcement officials everywhere, Canada has contributed to making everyone safer, and in turn, improving the quality of life in America. I also can't wait to see an episode of CSI (or CSI Miami) with this little techno-wonder in action!

Re:Proud Canadian

[ergo98]

As a fellow Canadian, I find your post grovelling, pandering, and embarrasing. As another poster said: We have nothing to prove. This is just another academic advance from another of the world's research institutes, and it's rather pathetic to "see! We matter!" with it.

In any case, do you really think the far-right in the US, the people who will say and do whatever they want to support their pet projects, care about facts (this'll make em see the light)? Of course they don't. They care about promoting xenophobia, paranoia, and the illusion of safety. All to get some funding for the local military base, or the local tech center that's developing a massive big brother database, or whatever other number of slush fund contributors they need to appease. If that means creating an illusion of a complacent Canada because we don't jump everytime their narrowsighted, politically charged so-called-intelligence agencies uncreatively imagine a threat (usually be imagining the prior threat repeating), then that's a price they're will to make someone else pay.

Super

[blackmonday]

Last time I used Super Glue I glued by thumb and index finger together for an hour. I hope this robot is better at sticking that little pin in the container than I am.

But..

[BorkBorkBork6000]

Wouldn't it be much cheaper to hire the homeless or students to take the prints?

Re:But..

[MalaclypseTheYounger]

True story.. a friend of mine used to sell robotic bomb-finding machines. They had a 85% success rate of defusing bombs. They cost about 10 million US to purchase.

A Russian military person was interested in the machines, until he found out that if the robot failed to defuse the bomb, they usually were broken beyond repair.

He said "We'll just stick to using soldiers. They're much cheaper"

Nice. :)

Re:Super Glue

[grub]

The glue is heated up and the fumes adhere to the skin oils in the fingerprint. They don't dunk the object in a tank of glue.

Re:Beverly Hillls Cop, too!

[Neon Spiral Injector]

It isn't exactly the super glue, it is the cyanoacrylate fumes released from heating the glue. It turns the finger prints white, then they can be photographed.

The reason they don't have a human doing this work, is because it is a dangerous assignment, investigating a suspecious package. Normally the robot would just destroy the package, finger prints and all. Now they can make images of the prints before destroying the package.

Will the evidence hold up in court?

[gevmage]

I wonder how this is going to hold up in court? Are digital photographs of the fingerprints (I assume that's how the pics are taken) submittable as evidence in a court of law?

I think it's a terrific idea, but the first time it's used, there's going to be a huge fight about the guarantee of authenticity of the prints.

Re:Will the evidence hold up in court?

[shystershep]

It's a good point, but probably moot. Just because it's not admissible in court doesn't mean that the police/FBI can't use it to investigate the crime. And find such fingerprints would be more than sufficient probable cause to issue a search warrant, where (if the suspect is in fact guilty) admissible evidence can be found. At that point, the authenticity of the fingerprints really doesn't matter too much.

Re:Beverly Hillls Cop, too!

[Luguber123]

I have no problem with making a list of people who qualifies for the job!

Not to nitpick but...

[GillBates0]

When police officers found suspicious packages today in an airport or a train station, they destroyed them immediately, along with potential fingerprints on them.

This introductory sentence makes it sound like there was some *specific* event today at the airport or bus station involving suspicious packages and police officers.

Though gramatically correct, it is a matter of practice in written/spoken English to use the present tense when generalizing as in: "When police officers find suspicious packages today in an airport or a train station, they destroy them immediately, along with potential fingerprints on them."

I wouldn't even have bothered pointing this out, but that blurb made me scurry over to http://news.google.com for a look-see. Good story though.

Remote Controlled Device not robot

[RichMan]

Why do people keep calling remote controlled devices robots?

A robot is an autonomous object responding to its environment.
A remote controlled device is under direct control.

We call them
Remote Controlled Cars
Remote Controlled Planes
these are clearly not "ROBOTS".

Why are the more esoteric remote controlled devices called robots?

Re:Remote Controlled Device not robot

[grub]

Why are the more esoteric remote controlled devices called robots?

I call my RealDoll "Becky".

I can just see it...

[ArbiterOne]

"Sir..." "What?" "The robot appears to have glued its fingers together, sir..." "Darnit! Do we have any nail polish remover?"

Homer Simpson moment

[poptones]

This is definitely one of those "Doh!" moments. As in "why didn't I think of that?"

With all the crap patents we hear about in this forum, it's great to read about a simple, obvious invention that someone actually invented - an idea that's actually worth some real credit.

But it still makes me wanna kick myself for not thinking of it first.

Re:Isn't there a

[Frnknstn]

No. At the very least it is littering.

I smell sitcom!

[ArmenTanzarian]

Two members of the bomb squad, like a modern day odd couple and their lovable sarcastic robot friend who squirts super glue on them. Hijinx... ready.... GO!!!1

It's not a glue sniffing robot.

[Jin Wicked]

It's a glue dispensing robot, which means that it will be followed where-ever it goes by kids in Slipknot t-shirts pestering you for change.

On the plus side, it will make it rather easy for these rampant glue-junkies to be brought to justice, making the streets safer for us all.

Re:It's not a glue sniffing robot.

[drivelikejehu]

If by brought to justice you mean being blown to smithereens, I can't agree with you more.

Re:Counter-Robot

[kill-hup]

They already have! It's called a GLOVE ;)

Smart criminals don't assemble packages/leave home without them.

Re: finger prints

[tomhudson]

This Robot Collects Fingerprints

So does my monitor, my TV screen, the fridge, windows, etc. Can I have my grant now?

(Yeah, I RTFA. It's a joke :-)

Why?

[teamhasnoi]

Wouldn't any self-respecting bomb maker wear gloves, or superglue his/her own fingerprints to make them illegible?

Or better yet, involve someone to handle the package for him/her, throwing the trail off?

This is only going to catch the dummies, who most likely have already blown themselves up.

Oh no! My $250,000 finger print robot

[blueZ3]

glued itself to the bomb!

Re:Beverly Hillls Cop, too!

[Uber Banker]

Fingerprinting an exploded bomb is commonly done though, and I wouldn't doubt DNA testing also being done. Whatever it is - the casing, schrapnel, components... discrete parts usually remain allowing fingerprinting, even on 1000lb bombs.

Of course figerprinting a live bomb it is great (easier to find parts that may have prints, and reduces the uncertainty 'just in case'), but fingerprinting exploded bombs is done and is very successful.

California v. Greenwood

[David Hume]

Isn't there a right to privately leave unmarked packages in an airport?

I'm not sure if you are joking, but if you are not you may want to look at the U.S. Supreme Court decision in California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35 (1988). The Court stated:

The issue here is whether the Fourth Amendment prohibits the warrantless search and seizure of garbage left for collection outside the curtilage of a home. We conclude, in accordance with the vast majority of lower courts that have addressed the issue, that it does not.

I understand that this is not directly on point in that it concerns garbage. However, in this age of terrorism I very much doubt that the Supreme Court is going to hold that the authorities cannot take fingerprints off of a package apparently abandoned at an airport, train station, etc.

An anecdote...

[CPM User]

Many years ago now, we had a job to do in Belfast, and after work we got very drunk in a pub. We left the car parked directly outside the pub and when we returned for it in the morning, the army had blown it up after someone had phoned in some car bomb threat. It later turned out that our insurance did not cover this sort of thing.

Fortunately, it wasn't me that had to explain what had happened to the shiny new company car.

Canadian robot eh?

[xRelisH]

Is it made out of wood and will it play hockey?