Fast access to disaster areas is vital. But often first responders, firefighters and medical teams have difficulty getting into damaged buildings and in locating victims. This was the case after Hurricane Sandy earlier this year. So Professor Seth Teller and his team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists developed a robot which creates a three dimensional map. The robot can be carried by a single person and it will then relay an accurate image of precisely what that person is seeing to the rest of the team. Emergency workers need freedom of movement, especially when running through disaster zones and previous designs couldn't respond when it came to measuring distances. So the human vest's sensor platform has accelerometers and gyroscopes which can can deal with jerky movements. Emergency coordinators say these gadgets could make a vast difference in any future disaster zones. More about: Emergency, New technologies