Rats with small backpacks could soon save the lives of earthquake survivors

And the most resourceful mouse might finally curse with something to offer us as humans.

Project APOPO, a Belgian non-profit organization that trains animals to save lives, is equipping mice with specialized mini backpacks to help emergency crews search for survivors if buildings collapse.

According to the researchers of the project, their small size and excellent smell of rodents, as well as an adventurous spirit make them the ideal animal to help in such disasters.

“Rats are usually very curious and like to explore — that’s the key to search and rescue,” Donna Keane, a behavioral research scientist and project leader, tells CNN.

The mice aren’t ready to deploy to collapsed buildings just yet, but they are currently trained in a disaster simulation zone, during 15-minute sessions five days a week, going through real rescue stunts.

The project was launched by the Belgian non-profit APOPO. The mice were fitted with small high-tech backpacks with small high-tech backpacks to help first responders search for survivors.

In the simulation exercises, rats have to find the person “trapped” in the rubble, pull a switch on their small jacket that beeps, and then return to their handles where they are given a treat.

The rodents’ backpacks are designed with a video camera, but scientists hope to make them “as small as possible” without losing any functionality, and also include a two-way microphone and a location transmitter to help locate survivors and communicate with people.

Rodents train in simulated situations. APOPO Their training includes an obstacle course that resembles the ruins of the disaster site

The backpacks are being developed by APOPO in collaboration with the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, with the backpack technology being developed by electrical engineer Sander Verdiesen.

Starting in 2021, the project was first proposed after volunteer search and rescue organization GEA approached APOPO to work together in 2017.

According to Kane, it will take a minimum of nine to 12 months to train each mouse. The next step is to simulate more “real-world scenarios,” with an immediate next stage involving moving mice into areas that simulate “multiple floors of a collapsed building.”

The project will then move to Turkey, where GEA is based, and will practice further in the simulator before experiencing real-life situations.

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