Centauro is a robot which is developed by the European Union Research Project lead by a German University of Bonn and other partners from the Italy and Sweden especially for handling the disaster situations.
Multiple disaster scenarios are clearly showing that today’s disaster response robots are not capable of providing the sufficient needed support in order to rescue workers. But this technology of the researchers focuses at the development of a human robot symbiotic system in which a human operator is tele-present with its whole body in the Centaur like robot and capable of strong movements and adapts control in the rough areas.
This Centauro robot consists of a four legged basis along with an anthropomorphic upper body. It will be driven by the lightweight compliant actuators and will be able to navigate in affected man made atmosphere. It also includes buildings and stairs that are cluttered with the debris and partially collapsed.
Centauro is capable of using various human tools in order to solve the difficult controlling tasks like connecting something or opening a valve for relieving the situation. This robot will be controlled by the human operator efficiently by using a full body tele-presence suit which provides visual, auditory and upper body haptic feedback.
The rich sensors will be able to provide the necessary situations awareness. For the routine manipulation and navigation tasks, the autonomous skills will be developed which will allow for taking the operator partially out of the control loop.
