Panut Wibulpolprasert

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Dr. Panut Wibulpolprasert is a pioneering roboticist whose work centers on autonomous systems for disaster response and urban search and rescue. His most notable contribution is the development of the **Plasma-RX** platform, a team of autonomous rescue robots designed to navigate the chaotic, debris-strewn environments of urban catastrophes. These robots are not simple remote-controlled machines; they are sophisticated systems equipped with differential drive tracks and front/rear flippers for traversing rubble, along with serial-link arms and cameras for manipulation and visual inspection. Critically, Dr. Wibulpolprasert equipped the Plasma-RX with a multi-modal sensor suite—including a thermopile array for detecting body heat, a CO2 sensor for finding trapped survivors, a microphone for listening for calls, and a tilt sensor for maintaining stability—allowing the robot to autonomously locate victims. This foundational work, published in 2009, has earned 8 citations and established a benchmark for integrating perception and mobility in rescue robotics. Dr. Wibulpolprasert’s research directly addresses the life-saving challenge of deploying robots into hazardous zones too dangerous for human first responders.