Better robots could help save disaster victims

In the wake of the tragic accident that killed 12 trapped miners in West Virginia, US, roboticists are saying that a new generation of search-and rescue-robots could help save lives in future disasters. The miners died in the Sago Mine in Talmansville, West Virginia, after an explosion on Monday. The cause of the blast is not yet known – state and federal mining experts opened their investigation of the explosion on Wednesday. The miners are thought to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning, as their bodies were found, as if sleeping, behind a makeshift barricade. In a further harrowing twist shortly after the explosion, victims' families received news that their loved-ones had survived, only to learn several hours later that all but one of the trapped miners had in fact died.