Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) has published its TEEX-Tested® report assessing the data communications of the Squishy Robotics 4-GasPLUS system’s functionality. This one-year-plus effort was funded through a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – Public Safety Communications Research grant for continued user testing with our public safety partners Southern Manatee Fire & Rescue (SMFR), San Jose Fire Department (SJFD), and TEEX.
“TEEX-Tested® reports provide emergency response personnel with unbiased information about a product’s performance, functionality, and reliability in the field,” said Squishy Robotics COO Dr. Deniz Dogruer. She explained that the TEEX assessments evaluated the feasibility and validity of technologies that enhance the safety and performance of emergency responders, industrial workers, and homeland security professionals.
“Working with our public safety partners and with the TEEX personnel was an incredible experience,” Dogruer continued. “All of us were working together to guarantee that the communications features of our sensor robots and the 4-GasPLUS system could ensure the safety of our first responder customers. Following our testing that established how successfully our sensors worked in extreme emergency situations, we took advantage of the TEEX large-scale testing site to also test what sensor transmission distances could be achieved. Everyone there was excited and impressed by the results. We are very proud of what we accomplished.”
The Squishy Robotics TEEX-Tested® report can be accessed here.
Last year, Squishy Robotics engineers spent months testing communications equipment and protocols before heading to the TEEX facilities in Texas for a week in early July. The TEEX Testing & Innovation Center teamed with Texas A&M University’s Internet2Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC) and the George H.W. Bush Combat Development Complex (BCDC) to assess and then test the communications and transmission capabilities of the 4-GasPLUS system in a variety of scenarios.
“Many of the scenarios were inspired by real-life emergencies that our partners at Southern Manatee and San Jose had responded to in the recent past,” Dogruer explained. “The TEEX operational environments included a petroleum/chemical processing unit and tank farm, a freight train derailment involving a tank car, and a subterranean tunnel system. Our public safety partners determined the best practices for deployment—by hand or by drone—for each maneuver and test.”
This work was performed under the following financial assistance award 70NANB22H209 from the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology.