Question about Mine Rescues

[AnnieBW]

Okay... the military has robots that can scout in hostile areas and transmit images back to their controllers. When there's a mine disaster or earthquake, why can't they use those robots - or similar ones - to go in and check for survivors? They could have lowered a 'bot into that mine to scout for survivors even while it was filled with methane.

[Petrushka]

1. Who knows? Perhaps they did. Here's a link showing MSHAs rescue robot --->

http://www.msha.gov/SagoMine/robotdetails.asp


Edited to add:

And here's a link to an article relative to mine rescue teams
at Montcoal wherein the MSHA rescue robot is mentioned as being available --->

http://www.register-herald.com/local/x1612530723/A-further-look-into-mine-rescue-training

[shraby]

2. Maybe with all the methane gas that only needs a spark

to explode, the robot being metal might cause a spark when running into a rock accidentally. Then there could be a problem with the electronics around volatile gas.

[Petrushka]

3. Wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. (eom)

[Tesha]

7. Electronics are made "explosion-proof" all the time for use in highly-explosive atmospheres...

...like grain elevators, chemical plants, and gas stations. Google "NEMA 7"
for more details.

And beryllium-copper is a strong but non-sparking metal alloy.

In other words, we *COULD* build perfectly safe mine rescue robots if
we wanted too, but we'd rather spend (say) $385 Billion on fighter
aircraft than a few millions on mine safety and rescue.

Human life doesn't have much value in this cuntry.

Tesha

[DefenseLawyer]

4. Probably because they knew they were all dead as soon as it happened. n/t

[AnnieBW]

5. Thanks!

That makes sense, that they were afraid of a spark or a short blowing the whole place up. But, I'm glad to know that MSHA does have a rescue robot available.

[ManiacJoe]

6. The poor range of radio signals in the mine shafts

might be one of the reasons.