Thursday, August 7, 2014

Researchers have created robots that can see through walls


Researchers have created robots that can see through walls


A team of scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara have created robots that are able to look through solid walls using Wi-Fi signals. The technology, the team hopes, will open new doors for search and rescue, surveillance, detection, and even archeology.


The team is led by Yasamin Mostofi, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. They have demonstrated how the robots, which work in pairs, use radio signals that are sent and received to each other to provide information about what lies behind concrete walls, regardless of whether the objects are moving or not.


The robots do this by using a wave-propagation model with a target resolution of around 0.8 in (2 cm). The pair measures the difference in strength between the sent signal and the received signal. Which enables them to produce and accurate map of the structure which shows where all of the solid objects and spaces are located.


“We have been interested in truly seeing through walls, meaning seeing every square inch on the other side with high accuracy, figuring out where all the objects are, as well as their geometry and material type, without any prior knowledge,” Mostofi wrote in an email. “With Wi-Fi signals everywhere, it is very important to understand what they can naturally tell us about our environment. Also, with robots/drones becoming more and more part of our near-future society, it is just natural to see what the automation of this process can do.”


Read more about the story at Engadget.


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