April 7, 2000

Pipe-Crawler Grabs International Media Attention

Computer Engineering seniors Steve Cottle (left), Brian Dessent (right) and Jason Cox (not pictured), along with Dr. Eddie Grant and Dr. John Muth, comprise the team that developed the pipe-crawling robot.

On September 21, 1999, the College of Engineering at NC State released a story about an engineering research project - a pipe-crawling robot. Within days after the release, the story hit the wire services, and a barrage of calls and emails messages from around the world began pouring in to the College news office.

Suddenly at the center of attention is Dr. Eddie Grant, Dr. Eddie Grant, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines at NC State. Grant is the originator of the idea for the robots that can crawl through six-inch pipes, enabling rescuers to find survivors in earthquake or explosion rubble without endangering more lives in the rescue. Since the story's release, the pipe-crawler has been a big hit with the media ÿ arguably the biggest story ever to come out of NC State University in the way of media attention ÿ with calls and email messages pouring into the College of Engineering news office from around the world. Grant and his colleagues have been besieged with technical questions, interviews and requests for more information.

Some big names in media have picked up the story: BBC Radio 5 Live from London interview with Eddie Grant; BBC Horizon; BBC Tomorrow's World; CNN; Japanese television news show; Science & Technology News Network; Motion International, Canada; Fox National News; ParisMatchmagazine; Engineering Magazineof London; KIJK magazine, Netherlands ("Onderzoek - Ideeën en experimenten, RoboRups"); Ça M´intéressemagazine of France ("Robotique - Une chenille pour fouiller les décombres"); Wired magazine; Popular Science magazine; Sensors magazine ("Research & Developments - Mobile Robot Is Designed for Rescue Operations"); New Scientistmagazine; National Geographic website; Science Daily's website; and countless other inquiries from around the world, with calls continuing to come in from around the globe.

Grant, Dr. John Muth, visiting assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Computer Engineering seniors Steve Cottle, Brian Dessent and Jason Cox comprise the team that developed the pipe-crawling robot.

The most recent design, MOCASIn 2, is able to navigate a complicated course of piping, complete with 90-degree turns and vertical climbs. The segmented robot has the look of a cyber-inchworm and uses pneumatics to force padded "feet" against the pipe walls as it extends and contracts its body along the pipe course.

MOCASIn 2 is outfitted with a tiny video camera and lights that feed video through a cable to a monitor so its location in the pipe can be seen. The robot can also carry sensors that could "hear" or sense vibrations from someone tapping on the pipes.

The original news release is on http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/news.releases/pipecrawler.html.

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