BRACU ALTER

Bangladesh faces disasters every year including fires, building collapses, chemical accidents, and earthquakes. During emergency operations, rescue teams often have to enter extremely dangerous environments with limited technological support. During one such incident, the tragic Baily Road fire, we lost our friend Nazmul because the rescue operation could not be completed safely and quickly enough. That experience made us realize how urgently Bangladesh needs intelligent robotic rescue technology that can assess risks before human responders enter hazardous areas.

Motivated by this challenge, we developed ALTER (Autonomous Locomotion Technology for Emergency Rescue), a smart tracked rescue robot designed to support firefighters and disaster response teams in hazardous environments. ALTER can navigate stairs, rubble, and uneven terrain while providing real-time situational awareness through AI-based vision systems, thermal imaging, stereo cameras, and multiple FPV cameras. The robot can detect environmental risks such as high temperature and toxic conditions and transmit live data to rescue teams to help them make faster and safer operational decisions.

ALTER is equipped with a 6-Degree-of-Freedom robotic manipulator capable of performing remote rescue assistance, object handling, and inspection tasks in dangerous environments where direct human entry is risky. The rover is powered by an NVIDIA Jetson Xavier AGX computing platform and operates using ROS-based architecture for autonomous navigation, perception, and teleoperation. It supports wireless communication over 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz channels and integrates multiple sensing modules for environmental monitoring.

The project was launched in 2022 under the Laboratory of Space System Engineering and Technology (LaSSET) at BRAC University and is currently developed by a multidisciplinary research team of more than 40 undergraduate engineering students, supported by academic advisors and research assistants. Our team continuously improves ALTER through iterative hardware and software upgrades, and the upcoming 2026 version includes enhanced traction capability, improved autonomy, upgraded sensor fusion systems, and modular embedded electronics architecture designed for field deployment readiness.

ALTER is designed not only for disaster rescue missions but also for applications in industrial inspection, chemical factories, steel rolling mills, construction monitoring, healthcare facility assessment, nuclear-risk environments, and military reconnaissance operations. These environments often expose workers to hazardous conditions, and ALTER can perform inspection, monitoring, and manipulation tasks remotely to improve safety and operational efficiency.

Our team actively participates in international robotics research competitions to validate ALTER under realistic disaster-response simulation environments. In 2024, BRACU ALTER represented Bangladesh at the RoboCup Rescue Robot League in Eindhoven, Netherlands, securing 15th position among leading international teams and publishing two research papers based on our innovations in autonomous navigation and rescue robotics. Continuing this progress, BRACU ALTER has now been officially selected to participate in RoboCup Rescue 2026 in Incheon, South Korea. Participation in RoboCup Rescue allows us to evaluate our system alongside world-class robotics laboratories and continuously improve the platform toward real-world deployment.

In addition to international participation, ALTER has received national recognition through support from the ICT Division of Bangladesh, the University Innovation Hub Pre-Seed Funding Program, and the Vice Chancellor’s Special Recognition Award at BRAC University. The team also secured the first runner-up position at the Hult Prize Competition 2024–25 for innovation impact. Our work has been covered by major national media outlets including The Daily Star, Bangladesh Pratidin, Kaler Kantho, and Somoy TV.

A major goal of the ALTER project is to develop a locally serviceable and affordable rescue robotics platform tailored for Bangladesh. Most advanced rescue robots used worldwide are expensive and difficult to maintain locally. By designing our own embedded motor drivers, control electronics, communication modules, and sensor integration systems, we aim to reduce dependency on imported solutions while strengthening Bangladesh’s robotics research ecosystem.

To continue advancing ALTER toward real-world deployment and to represent Bangladesh internationally at RoboCup Rescue 2026, we are seeking technical support from PCBWay for custom PCB fabrication, embedded electronics development, and system integration of our rescue robot platform. PCBWay’s high-quality PCB manufacturing support will directly contribute to the development of our motor driver boards, sensor interface modules, communication control systems, and AI processing support electronics used in ALTER.

In recognition of this support, PCBWay will receive branding visibility on our rescue robot platform, team uniforms, competition booths, research presentations, social media publications, and international robotics event participation activities. Through this collaboration, PCBWay will become a valued technology partner contributing to the advancement of life-saving robotics innovation from Bangladesh to the global robotics research community.

Reference: https://rrl.robocup.org/