Rats with backpacks could help rescue earthquake survivors
CNN
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Buildings don’t collapse very often – but when they do, it’s catastrophic for those trapped inside. Natural disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes can level entire towns, and for the search and rescue teams trying to find survivors, it’s a painstaking task.
But an unlikely savior is being trained up to help out: rats.
The project, conceived of by Belgian non-profit APOPO, is kitting out rodents with tiny, high-tech backpacks to help first responders search for survivors among rubble in disaster zones.
“Rats are typically quite curious and like to explore – and that is key for search and rescue,” says Donna Kean, a behavioral research scientist and leader of the project.
In addition to their adventurous spirit, their small size and excellent sense of smell make rats perfect for locating things in tight spaces, says Kean.
The rats are currently being trained to find survivors in a simulated disaster zone. They must first locate the target person in an empty room, pull a switch on their vest that triggers a beeper, and then return to base, where they are rewarded with a treat.
While the rodents are still in the early stages of training, APOPO is collaborating with the Eindhoven University of Technology to develop a backpack, which is equipped with a video camera, two-way microphone, and location transmitter to help first responders communicate with survivors.
“Together with the backpack and the training, the rats are incredibly useful for search and rescue,” says Kean.
APOPO has been training dogs and rats at its base in Tanzania in the scent detection of landmines and tuberculosis for over a decade. Its programs use African Giant Pouched Rats, which have a longer lifespan in captivity of around eight years compared to the four years of the common brown rat.
While the search and rescue project only officially launched in April 2021, when Kean joined the team, APOPO had been trying to get the idea off the ground for years but lacked funding and a search and rescue partner to support it. But when volunteer search and rescue organization GEA approached APOPO in 2017 about the possibility of using rats in its missions, the team began exploring the idea.
A key component to the search and rescue mission was the technology to allow first responders to communicate with victims via the rats. APOPO didn’t have this – until electrical engineer Sander Verdiesen got involved.
Looking to “apply technology to improve lives” during his master’s studies at Eindhoven University of Technology, Verdiesen interned with APOPO in 2019 and was tasked with creating the first prototype of the rat backpack, to help rescuers get a better idea of what was going on inside disaster zones.
The prototype consisted of a 3D-printed plastic container with a video camera that sent live footage to a receiver module on a laptop, while also saving a…
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