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<h1 class="nist-page__title">Search and Rescue Robotics: A Q&amp;A With NIST&#039;s Adam Jacoff</h1>
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<div class="daterange"><time datetime="2021-05-07T12:00:00Z">May 7, 2021</time>
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<figure class="nist-image--lightbox nist-image" data-lightbox="https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/styles/2800_x_2800_limit/public/images/2021/05/06/NIST_Robotics_Research_Engineer_Adam_Jacoff_featured.jpg?itok=LT9skf4B" data-media-id="609876">
<img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/960_x_960_limit/public/images/2021/05/06/NIST_Robotics_Research_Engineer_Adam_Jacoff_featured.jpg?itok=W7ouOVJ9" width="960" height="600" alt="Adam Jacoff in the NIST Robot Test Facility in the obstacle course with a robot" typeof="foaf:Image" />
<figcaption class="nist-image__caption">
<div data-caption-editable="true" class="nist-image__caption-content">
<p>Adam Jacoff in the NIST Robot Test Facility.</p>
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<div class="nist-image__credit">
<span class="nist-image__credit-label">Credit:</span>
NIST
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<p><em>Adam Jacoff has been a robotics research engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) since 1988. His research has focused on developing a variety of new robotic capabilities and designing comprehensive suites of tests to foster innovation throughout the robotics community to help keep emergency responders out of harms way. Adam, along with the NIST Emergency Response Robotics team, is a finalist for a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal in the Safety, Security and International Affairs category, which is awarded to federal employees who have made significant accomplishments in fields such as civil rights, cybersecurity, emergency preparedness and response, border security, counter-terrorism, defense and military affairs, intelligence or diplomacy. The Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals are intended to highlight excellence in the federal workforce and inspire other talented and dedicated individuals to go into public service.</em></p><h2>What made you decide on a career in the federal government? What made you stay?</h2><p>I originally joined NIST in 1988 as a young engineer wanting to work on prototype implementations of a robot that was expected to help build and maintain the space station. At the time, robotics in general wasnt much of an industry, mostly research projects of various kinds. But that space-based robot, called the Flight Telerobotic Servicer, was quite an ambitious idea. One of its main jobs was to assemble truss joint mechanisms used to connect the main space station structural components. Astronaut activities outside the space station are some of the most dangerous things they do, so robotic help was important. Our NIST group was leading research in sensor-based control of robotic arms that could track and grasp objects in the environment.</p><p>My first design-and-build project at NIST was a robotic head called TRICLOPS, because it had three cameras as eyes. I designed the two verging eyes and Al Wavering, now the acting deputy director of NISTs Engineering Laboratory, designed the center eye and neck motions. Seeing this fabricated robotic “head” come alive to track things moving through the environment was just such a visceral pleasure. To design and build something from nothing, and try to teach it to do useful things, is what robotics is all about. That TRICLOPS head is actually on display in the lobby of the NIST administration building.</p>
<figure class=" align-right nist-image--lightbox nist-image" role="group">
<div data-lightbox="https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/styles/2800_x_2800_limit/public/images/2021/05/06/triclops.jpg?itok=KMV8f4OP" data-media-id="609886">
<img alt="a three-eyed robotic head" height="165" loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/220_x_220_limit/public/images/2021/05/06/triclops.jpg?itok=mFa2CBUZ" typeof="foaf:Image" width="220">
</div>
<figcaption class="nist-image__caption">TRICLOPS had three cameras as eyes to replicate the foveal-peripheral vision that humans use so well. The center camera had a wide-angle view of the area while the two left and right cameras could verge to focus on a single object.&nbsp; All three eyes could also tilt up/down and rotate around the “neck” at the bottom.<div class="nist-image__credit">
<span class="nist-image__credit-label">Credit:</span>
NIST
</div></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Flight Telerobotic Servicer project was canceled after a few years as the space station in general needed to cut costs. So our groups research efforts turned toward developing robotic assembly lines for manufacturing applications. That was in NISTs Automated Manufacturing Research Facility in the early 1990s, which helped pave the way for automated manufacturing plants you see everywhere now.</p><p>What makes NIST great, and why I stayed, is the breadth of high-tech projects going on in various industries, all focused on pushing the state of the science. Ive had maybe five different mini-careers at NIST over the years, each lasting for five years or so, focused on different kinds of robots, interacting with different stakeholders, producing different impacts. Only my phone number and my email address have remained the same.</p><h2>How did you get interested in robotics and emergency response robots specifically?</h2><p>The first robot I built was for a senior design project at the University of Maryland. That was before robotics was a big thing, but it seemed like an interesting way of making mechanical engineering come alive. That robot was destined to participate in the first annual Walking Machine Decathlon. It wasnt actually robotic at all, because it didnt have a computer on board (they were still the size of rooms). But it was very stable with three legs always on the ground while the other three legs advanced or rotated around the center. It kind of walked slow and steady like a crab. It had to be stable because some of the decathlon tasks were to carry water on its back and deal with the shifting weight of the water sloshing around.</p><p>That was an illuminating experience, my first attempt at making something robotic. It was, and always is, both frustrating and rewarding. Like training a new puppy, but one that you designed and fabricated by hand. That walking machine took its very first steps across the starting line of the competition out in Colorado. It required two all-nighters in a hotel just prior to the competition to put the final puzzle pieces into place. It was a single semester project that clearly needed two. I designed and built the legs, which was my first time machining aluminum. That robot placed second behind a robot that attempted to climb stairs too, which ours could never do. That leg design only lifted about an inch off the ground, but it walked like a champ! I knew then I wanted to work with robots somehow after graduation, design them, build them, try to teach them to do useful things. I wanted to make robots that would keep people out of harms way.</p><h2>How have developments in technology, such as the advances in aerial and aquatic robots, transformed search and rescue during your career?</h2>
<div class="align-right nist-image--lightbox nist-image" data-lightbox="https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/styles/2800_x_2800_limit/public/images/2021/05/06/robot%20collage.png?itok=zh5pwzfv" data-media-id="609891">
<img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/480_x_480_limit/public/images/2021/05/06/robot%20collage.png?itok=uPd9qs2I" width="370" height="480" alt="collage showing legged, ground, drones and aquatic robots" typeof="foaf:Image">
<div class="nist-image__credit">
<span class="nist-image__credit-label">Credit:</span>
NIST
</div>
</div>
<p>There are lots of very dangeroustasks that can and should be performed remotely using robots of various kinds. Think about bomb squads and soldiers using remotely operated robots to disable improvised explosive devices rather than manually doing so in padded suits, which is unconscionably dangerous. There are plenty of other examples such as searching under semi-collapsed buildings, aquatic search and rescue during and after storms, and aerial firefighting scenarios in both wildland and urban environments.</p><p>So I now lead an international effort to develop standard test methods for emergency response robots including ground, aquatic and aerial systems also known as “drones.”These standard tests enable emergency responders and others to perform extremely hazardous tasks from safer standoff distances.</p><p>When we started, there was no measurement science or standards infrastructure available to objectively evaluate robotic capabilities or remote-operator proficiency. So we filled that void with easy-to-replicate standard test methods enabling any user to quantify the performance of their own robots and personnel. We now have more than 50 tests. After helping to guide purchases of robotic systems, many of the tests are used to focus training as repeatable scoring tasks in operational scenarios. The resulting scores measure and compare operators proficiency against anybody using the same system in the same tests. Thats how our tests support credentialing of remote operators, like a drivers license test for very different kinds of vehicles. These licenses will enable incident commanders at large-scale disasters to use specific capabilities in otherwise unknown responders deployed from other agencies and regions.</p><h2>Youve participated in a lot of international collaborations and competitions. Tell us about RoboCupRescue. What has been its impact?</h2><p>We pioneered the use of robot competitions as an effective mechanism for validating and disseminating standards worldwide, and have conducted more than 30 regional and international competitions over 20 years. They are excellent incubators for new standard tests because of the wide range of robots that participate. They also provide a forum for manufacturers and researchers to measure progress annually and highlight breakthrough capabilities in their latest inventions.</p><p>To help develop and validate the original suites of ground-robot tests, I co-founded an international robotics competition called RoboCupRescue with a colleague from Japan that was focused on urban search-and-rescue robots. The objective was to help guide research, measure progress, and educate emergency responders about the potential usefulness of emerging robotic capabilities. The theme was robots that could deploy into disasters after earthquakes, tsunamis and other extremely hazardous and difficult environments. The first competition we conducted was the year before the World Trade Center collapse, which clearly showed the need for better robotic capabilities than were available at the time.</p><p>Theyve gotten bigger and much more refined over time. So now each competition is an astonishingly productive public evaluation of the state of the science for all to see. A typical RoboCupRescue championship conducts more than 400 trials in less than a week, using more than 30 test methods in three different scales. We conduct a massively concurrent evaluation with teams proctoring other teams in repeatable trials to measure performance in individual tests and sequences of tests. The scoring paradigm encourages autonomous and assistive behaviors that improve remote operator performance. Over the years, these competitions have inspired and helped refine completely new approaches to ground robot mobility, dexterity and laser mapping within very complex environments.</p><p>These robotics competitions are literally the thing Im most proud of in my career. The robots were pretty ineffective when we started, especially in the most difficult terrains. Our RoboCupRescue comp
<figure class=" align-center nist-image--lightbox nist-image" role="group">
<div data-lightbox="https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/styles/2800_x_2800_limit/public/images/2021/05/06/RobocupRescue%20group%20pic.png?itok=Qn1MksuO" data-media-id="609881">
<img alt="RoboCupRescue competitors in a large arena with obstacles and robots" height="278" loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/images/2021/05/06/RobocupRescue%20group%20pic.png" typeof="foaf:Image" width="653">
</div>
<figcaption class="nist-image__caption">Annual RoboCupRescue robot competitions include researchers from all over the world evaluating their robots within a maze of more than twenty standard test methods developed by NIST.</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Whats next for you?</h2><p>Were working on developing test methods for aerial drones. I think this is going to be the most impactful thing weve ever done. Thats partly because of the staggering size of the market. But also because they are some of the smartest systems I get to work with, so theyre really useful for emergency responders, commercial and industrial applications, and much more. There are so many situations where remotely piloted drones can provide essential situational awareness very quickly, with really excellent images and video. Theyll keep emergency responders at safer standoff distances while improving their effectiveness. Youll be seeing them everywhere soon.</p><p>So, to help ensure that drones get safely integrated into the national airspace, we developed a series of tests that evaluate system capabilities and remote pilot proficiency. Just as our ground-robot tests have helped guide more than $200 million in robot purchases by emergency responders and the military over the years, our drone tests are now helping to inform purchases at a much faster pace. And people see the benefits more readily now given the impacts on ground robot procurements and training.</p><p>Flying safely in our national airspace requires knowledge and skill. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) developed a written test that ensures remote pilots understand airspace restrictions and safety precautions. Our test methods augment that with measures of remote pilot proficiency. So emergency responders and other organizations worldwide are using our tests to focus their training and measure their proficiency to support new licensing requirements for remote pilots.</p><p>This is an extremely important new use case for our tests, especially because of the risk associated with an out-of-control drone for nearby ground personnel and possibly and other aircraft in the area.</p><p>One example is our Civil Air Patrol (CAP), which has more than 1,200 pilots across 52 sites nationwide. Theyre using our tests to get all their pilots onto the same measuring stick for their credentialing process. CAP provides all the aerial needs for the Department of Homeland Securitys Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Multiple states have adopted our tests to credential their public safety organizations; Canada is next. So our tests are already having an impact on a wide variety of federal, state and local emergency responders in the U.S. and are starting to get replicated internationally.</p><h2>You and the NIST Emergency Response Robotics team are finalists for this award, do you want to give a shoutout to your teammates and talk a little about the group effort?</h2><p>Our project has been a truly international effort spanning twenty years with far too many emergency responders, soldiers, test facilities, manufacturers, researchers, and sponsors to list and thank. So many of them have collaborated at various times over the years on entire suites of tests. I hope they see their ideas implemented within the tests they helped shape. Its a good feeling.</p><p>The brunt of the work has been performed by a rather small and evolving team from NIST with three to four people per year or so. We develop the tests, organize the validation exercises, the robot competitions, the standards committee meetings. We refine and refine some more until all the various user community requirements are met. Its been an ambitious endeavor at a relentless pace because of all the various stakeholders and at-risk communities involved.</p><p>Elena Messina helped start the project. She provided technical and managerial expertise throughout as we tried to get our minds around the myriad of robots and operational requirements across all the various user groups that needed them.</p><p>Ann Virts has been the associate project leader throughout. She does a little bit of everything, keeping us focused and productive while maintaining and improving our Robotics Test Facility. She has helped so many external collaborators to replicate the te
<div data-media-id="470506">
<div class="video-embed-field"><div class="video-embed-field-lazy" data-video-embed-field-lazy="&lt;div class=&quot;video-embed-field-provider-nist-kaltura video-embed-field-responsive-video&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe width=&quot;854&quot; height=&quot;480&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; allow=&quot;autoplay *; fullscreen *; encrypted-media *&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;allowfullscreen&quot; src=&quot;https://www.kaltura.com/p/684682/embedPlaykitJs/uiconf_id/55674542?iframeembed=true&amp;amp;entry_id=1_4eqpdy5e&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
"><img alt="Sky's the Limit: NIST Performance Tests Train Emergency Response Drone Pilots" loading="lazy" src="https://cdnsecakmi.kaltura.com/p/684682/sp/68468200/thumbnail/entry_id/1_4eqpdy5e/width/1280" typeof="foaf:Image">
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<div class="video-embed-field-lazy-title">Sky's the Limit: NIST Performance Tests Train Emergency Response Drone Pilots</div>
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<figcaption class="nist-image__caption">Performance test methods developed by NIST measure both the system capabilities of aerial emergency response drones and the proficiency of their pilots. The test methods are low-cost and easy to fabricate and use, so they can be replicated by any group interested in evaluating its aircraft and remote pilots before they face a real-life emergency.</figcaption>
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