It has an inflatable tube which can flex around corners and squeeze through narrow passages. An operator controls the tube with a joystick it has a camera and sensors at its tip Which help draw a 3D map of ‘void spaces’ and plot an entry route for emergency teams.
The robot’s name is the Soft Pathfinding Robotic Observation Unit, or SPROUT. It was created by a team at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Notre Dame. ‘Vine’ robots like SPROUT are currently used for industrial inspection but SPROUT is the first to be created for urban search-and-rescue.
