The T-52 Enryu is a rescue robot.
A rescue robot is a robot that is made to help the humans in areas that have been hit by a natural disaster such as an earthquake, tsunami, etc., or by a man-made disaster such as fires, car crashes, etc. There are many different types of rescue robots of different sizes and shapes. The , sometimes referred to as "HyperRescueRobot", is a hydraulically operated robot, built to cut a path through debris for rescue workers, in the wake of an earthquake or other catastrophe.
As of 2006, the robot conducted a performance test at Nagaoka University of Technology and successfully lifted a car from a snowbank.
TMSUK developed the robot in cooperation with Kyoto University, the Kitakyushu Fire Department and Japan's National Research Institute of Fire and Disaster in Tokyo. The 3.5-metre-tall robot can either be driven from a cockpit positioned at the front of the robot or it can be controlled remotely as like its cousin the Banryu, it contains multiple CCD cameras which transmit to the remote driver - in this case, it has seven 6.8-megapixel CCD cams mounted on its "head", "torso" and "arms".
Characteristics of T-52 Enryu
T-52 Enryu measures 3.5 meters in height, 2.4 meters in width, and weighs 5 tons. It has two 6-meter arms. Each arm could carry 500 kilograms and both arms combined can lift up to one ton. The robot runs on diesel fuel. It has a top speed of 3 km/h which is equivalent to most construction machines.
The T-52 was created in 2004. The urge to build such advanced rescue robots begun after experts realized the amount of damage natural disasters did in the past decade alone. According to the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) there was 3852 disasters in the last decade in which over three quarters of a million of people died, and cost an amount $960 billion to fix damaged buildings and help people pay their hospital bills.
Operation
There is two methods to operate the T-52 Enryu: Operator sitting inside the robot and by remote control device. It can cut through metals and other materials to free people who are trapped. Also it helps clear the road for other vehicles to pass through. Last, T-52 Enryu can rip doors from cars to allow people to exit. It is mostly used in areas where it might be too dangerous for people to go to.