Homeland Defense: Mobile Robotic Technologies for Building Inspection and Decontamination

摘要

Recent events clearly show that a biological (and by implication a chemical orrnradiological) attack on domestic facilities is a real threat that as a nation we must bernprepared to respond to. Because the HVAC air duct system typically fully permeates anrnoffice building, it provides both access to literally every single enclosed space and arnsimple method for introducing a biological or chemical agent and dispersing it rapidlyrnthroughout the building. Furthermore, even a less direct attack by terrorists through thernsurreptitious introduction of contaminated materials (i.e. conventional mail or packages)rninto a commercial or government building can ultimately result in a contamination of thatrnbuilding’s interior and by association, the entire HVAC system. Cleaning up after suchrnan event, or inspecting a building which is experiencing the so-called “sick buildingrnsyndrome” resulting from the accidental release of hazardous materials will require arnvery thorough treatment of the inside of the entire building, particularly the air ductrnsystem and all utility chases. Decontaminating the human-accessible areas of thernbuilding can certainly be accomplished using trained personnel in ‘bio-suits’, althoughrnthis places people at risk and is limited by the on-station time a suited-up person canrntolerate. Decontaminating inaccessible areas is highly problematic, and one obviousrnapproach to deploying a decontamination system is through the use of mobile roboticrntechnologies. Other more conventional approaches such as those used by the commercialrnair duct “steam cleaning” industry are problematic in that they do not guarantee fullrncoverage of the duct system, nor do they provide for high resolution inspection andrnverification of clean-out in a variety of duct geometries. When considering thernapplication of robotic technologies to the inspection and decontamination of office