Crisis robots show people to emergency exits

WHAT should you do when alarms are ringing, the building is rapidly filling with smoke and the crackle of fire is just round the corner? Follow the robot, say Ayanna Howard and Paul Robinette, electrical engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, who want to create smart roving exit signs.

Static signs point people to safety but can't warn evacuees when an exit is blocked or unsafe. The researchers suggest that evacuation robots could instead guide people to the nearest exit, seek out stragglers and alert emergency services to the whereabouts of people who are injured or trapped.

> http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128247.000-crisis-robots-show-people-to-emergency-exits.html