2002/1/18
Rescue Robot Symposium in Kobe and Tokyo

The 'Rescue Robot Symposium 2002' were held at International Conference Center Kobe (Chuo Ward, Kobe City) on January 17, 2002, and at National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation on January 18, 2002.
Researchers were gathered to discussed the issues around rescue robots which are used to save people, and the picture of disaster prevention in the near future which would be made possible by robots.

The meeting was held under the aegis of the International Rescue System Research Organization Preparatory Group, a nonprofit organization that has been granted the status of a juridical person under the Japanese law, the RoboCup Federation, and other local organizations.

At the symposium, LTC. (Ret.) John Blitch from The Center for Robot Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) and Professor Robin Murphy from the University of South Florida were invited to talk about how robots had been used for search and rescue operations at the site of the World Trade Center in New York, which was hit by terrorist attacks in September 11. A model of robots used at the disaster scene was demonstrated in connection with the presentations. A panel discussion chaired by Professor Satoshi Tadokoro, with researchers and rescue experts, followed by the heated Q&A were closing the program.