Rescue

Teseo+Arianna is a concept by Italian designer Davide Anzalone that takes surf lifesaving to another level. The design comes in three major components - a tower (Arianna) with a rotating platform, a small vehicle (Teseo) with a jet engine and a quick-inflating safety vest with a CO2 cartridge. It is all designed with form and function in mind, and has the advantage of being environmentally friendly, with solar panels on the tower. It is based on the knowledge that a lifeguard and lifesaver needs to minimize the time it takes to reach a victim and begin giving life support.  Read More

Designed for urban search and rescue operations, Raytheon's Controlled Impact Rescue Tool (CIRT) uses concentrated shockwaves to penetrate concrete and rubble far more quickly than drilling, sawing or chipping. In a recent demonstration it penetrated a concrete barrier in 13 minutes, while competing methods achieved a similar result only after 29 minutes.  Read More

February 7, 2007 One of the many problems of climbing a mountain as tall as Mount Everest, is that once you’re up there, there’s not much help available if things go wrong. Most helicopters are not designed to operate above a ceiling of about 14,000ft (4,300m), yet Base Camp on Everest is at nearly 18,000ft (5364m) and the summit is another 11,500ft (3,486m) above that. Now UAV specialist TGR Helicorp, creators of the Snark, has developed an unpiloted full-size alpine rescue helicopter; the Alpine Wasp, which will be able to operate safely and autonomously at altitudes up to and beyond 30,000ft (over 9000m). The company will be donating the Alpine Wasp to the Everest Rescue Trust after it has undergone testing and systems evaluation in the harsh mountain environment of the Mt Cook region of New Zealand during 2007. It will be capable of airlifting up to two sick or injured climbers at a time from extreme altitude, using ultra-modern composite technologies, a revolutionary diesel helicopter engine and rotor blades designed especially for maximum performance in thin air. The Everest Trust is to use the Alpine Wasp as its key technology in building and operating a self-funding unmanned rescue helicopter service for the extreme altitude regions of Nepal. This humanitarian project aims to save lives on Everest and improve the safety and emergency services in Nepal, while directly benefiting the Nepalese people.  Read More

November 15, 2006 Amphibious vehicle manufacturers Sealegs has unveiled a new amphibious rescue boat aimed at search and rescue roles with government agencies, fire departments and civil defence forces. The 6 metre Amphibious Rescue Craft (ARC) is constructed of marine grade aluminium for demanding field deployment applications. The Sealegs ARC has a base price of NZ$89,000 (US$58,850) and made its debut at the Big Boys Toys show in the company’s native New Zealand last week. With international demand for the company’s unique product now accounting for 80% of production, a new production facility is being readied to increase supply by a factor of four.  Read More

September 16, 2005 The Boeing Company has announced its entry in the U.S. Air Force combat search and rescue aircraft program, the advanced HH-47 CSAR-X tandem rotor aircraft. The U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command will be releasing a final RFP for aircraft for combat search and rescue missions (CSAR) in the near future and a small but elite field of contenders is assembling. The HH-47 will line up against the V-22 tiltrotor, the US101 helicopter and the H-92 Sikorsky for the opportunity to replace the HH-60G combat-search-and-rescue helicopter.  Read More

Awarded 'Gold' at the Student Design Awards 2002, "Goldie" is a safe and inexpensive electric powered Surf Rescue Vehicle (SRV) concept designed to give life-saving organizations greater access to effective rescue equipment...  Read More