Military hardware can help in rescues

Monday, Sept. 9, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Robots moving like snakes. Mechanical eyes floating on air currents. Water cutting concrete.

These are some of the military inventions that tumbled from the top-secret toolbox at a local conference aimed at rescuing people in less time with fewer dollars.

As defense laboratories nationwide shrink following the end of Cold War tensions, researchers are applying warrior widgets to save those caught in earthquakes, floods, fires and explosions.

The seventh annual National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue conference in Las Vegas last week attracted everyone involved in rescues, from explosives experts to emergency response leaders.

Dr. Chuck Weisbin of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., talked about the future of robots and their role in exploring Mars, which may harbor signs of life. On Earth the robots can be used to snake into crevices left in a building's rubble and seek out the injured without putting rescuers at risk.

William Coleman of Water Systems demonstrated a miniature drill powered by water that can cut through concrete without endangering anyone buried in the ruins.

The latest satellite system, the kind that tracks the skies for enemy threats, now offers better communications to rescuers in the field.

The latest computer programs deliver a 3-D model of collapsed buildings to the emergency teams with laptops in the field.

Fuel cells that give four times the power for the same amount of fuel give rescue crews the electricity they need at the disaster scene.

Thanks to formerly classified technology now available to emergency crews, there's a better chance than ever before of saving disaster victims, officials said.

The Nevada Office of Emergency Management, Western United States Earthquake Preparedness Consortium and public safety agencies from Clark County and Las Vegas hosted the week-long conference.