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Rescue Rats to Find Buried Victims
adaminnj writes "Rats are being trained to sniff out the buried victims of earthquakes and bomb blasts and could be sent to search for survivors in the same way as dogs. The idea of being rescued by a rat may not appeal to many people, but they have the advantage of being able to crawl almost anywhere and slip through small holes and crevices. Like dogs, they also have a highly acute sense of smell. But to be successful rescuers, they must be able to home in on victims and signal their position to waiting rescue teams."
The idea of being rescued by a rat may not appeal to many people
I bet it'd appeal more to most people than 'don't be rescued' though...
Are you confusing probes with robots? Too many people call mindless automatons robots. A robot, at least in my mind, needs some kind of intelligence. I'm not sure that our current ability to create an AI, in a package small enough to move around under rubble, is even remotely feasible right now. Rats are light. They are smart enough to do tasks when trained. They are agile enough to have a good chance of not killing themselves on dangerous surfaces. Robots are cool, but let's be realistic. Save a life any way you can.
Today, a robot wouldnt be able to detect a individual 1/2 dead person and seek them out.
Animals do this by 2nd nature.. And they are cheap...
---- Booth was a patriot ----
they have the advantage of being able to crawl almost anywhere and slip through small holes and crevices.
So do ferrets. But I'd imagine they're too cute for most people to want to set them free in burning rubble.
After working with them, we found them to be pretty intelligent and very clean. On top of that, they seem to be able to get into amazing places.
We had a pair of rats in particular that we kept as "pets" (the rest were used for breeding and were sold to pet stores). These two rats were large, white and housebroken (easier to do with a rat than a dog). They got along very well with our two cats and one dog. We used to sit, watching TV with them curled up on our laps.
All that being said, although I've never had to be rescued from a collapsed building, I have had to be rescued from a plane crash in the boonies before. Frankly, I wouldn't have cared if they sent a Kodiak Grizzly to find me, I just wanted to be rescued. However, having crashed in a grizzly area, I'd have to admit that it would have been emotionally distressing for me and potentially dangerous for the bear (I don't fly over those areas unarmed - for good reason).
So, (and I can only imagine here) being buried under a pile of rubble, I'm pretty sure I'd be worried about rats in the first place (keep in mind I like rats - but I also know them). This rat-rescuer had better be very well marked as such or it's history. For someone, like my mother, it would be traumatic to be rescued by a rat, but if she were burried, and the rat was marked as a "rescue-rat", even she might come around.
As far as being able to train a rat to do the deed, I have no doubt that it can be done. But there are going to be quite a few perceptual hurdles to overcome. For many, it'd be like training a snake to rescue people. They could get into even tighter spaces, but half your victims would die of fright before you could get them out and you'd be pulling out a badly beaten snake for the other half.
"terrorism" and "pedophilia" are the root passwords to the Constitution
The idea of being rescued by a rat may not appeal to many people
If I'm trapped under a collapsed building after an earthquake for a week, drinking my own urine and eating scraps of drywall, I don't care if it's RMS and Darl McBride who rescue me while debating the GPL.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Yes, not getting rescued would definitely suck. But I hope they put these little suckers in some little 'rat rescue' uniform, otherwise when the rat does find the person, that person it going to be scared shitless that not only are they buried but the rats have started to find them.
Heck, maybe a little rat loud-speaker saying "don't panic, this is a trained rescue rat" on a loop or someting.
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.