The source of life, moving like human joints
Development of a disaster response machine with dual-arm robotic arms
Hydraulically operated, lifting 200 kg and cutting 22 mm


Excavators are used in most disaster sites for rescue and initial recovery efforts. However, excavators are difficult to operate and optimized for digging, limiting their ability for unskilled workers like firefighters to quickly perform emergency tasks like breaking up or moving debris.

On the 20th, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), together with Hanyang University, the Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI), and the Korea Association of Machinery Industry (KOAMI), jointly developed a special-purpose disaster response machine that can ensure the safety of firefighters at disaster sites and quickly perform difficult and complex rescue operations.

The developed equipment consists of a pair of 6-meter-long working machines that function as human arms on top of four crawler submodules. Firefighters riding the equipment can use a wearable device to move the implement as freely as their own arm, allowing them to intuitively control it even without experience.

By utilizing this, it can easily perform various tasks such as moving large obstacles weighing up to 200 kg, cutting 22 mm thick rebar, breaking up cement blocks, and drilling through sandwich panels, allowing for the rescue of buried or trapped people faster than with an excavator.

◇ Hydraulically operated robotic arms are more powerful than electric motor-driven ones.

The research team led by Dr. Jo Jeong-san of the Robotics Application Research Division at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIOST), which led the development, identified "design, manufacturing, and control technology for a hydraulically operated dual-arm robot" as the core technology behind the developed device. Hydraulic actuators can generate greater force than conventional electric motor-driven systems, making them ideal for lifting heavy loads. Here, 14 degrees of freedom equivalent to a human arm are implemented, improving operability compared to existing equipment.

In addition, to enable various tasks at disaster sites, the left hand was developed as a power gripper that can grasp various objects, and the right hand was developed to enable precise tasks such as cutting, crushing, and spreading, so that it can handle large objects such as drums using both arms like a human.

The wearable control device 'kHandler' and 'Marionette Algorithm' that can be controlled as if moving one's arms according to the driver's intention help even inexperienced users to operate it easily.

In December 2020, the research team completed field testing of the prototype's performance for more than 20 disaster response scenarios at the Disaster and Safety Center of the Korea Institute of Robotics and Convergence (KIRO) in Pohang.

Going forward, the company plans to further develop the hydraulic system and control technology in collaboration with fire departments to enable deployment at disaster sites. The equipment is expected to be utilized in a variety of fields, including construction and industrial sites requiring unmanned or automated systems, agricultural sites with large-scale cultivation, and defense sites for clearing landmines and artillery shells.

Meanwhile, this achievement is the result of the industrial core technology development project supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy for approximately five years starting in 2015, and the research was conducted jointly by Ssangyong Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., Korea Construction Equipment Parts Research Institute (KOCETI), and Ulsan University as participating institutions.