Clemson students create natural disaster rescue vehicle

CLEMSON UNIVERSITY (WSPA) – Clemson University students are finding new ways to help victims of natural disasters through engineering.

Deep Orange 15 is the 15th generation rescue vehicle created by graduate students in Clemson University’s Prototype Education Program.

“I mean it was crazy, like we started from scratch from the ground up so we had to come up with what we see behind us. It was like a blank slate,” said Eshwin Sankar.

For two years, automotive engineering students researched and built this semi automatic rescue vehicle.

“The students not only have to do the math and the science, but they also have to put their hands on things and make things. and we emphasize safety first and foremost, but then the educational benefit of that process,” said Jamie Forbes.

Deep Orange 15 has the ability to travel on any terrain assisting military and rescue group first responders with disastrous situations.

Engineers said rescuers can program a route from point A to point B.

“From point B to A the vehicle drives back by itself and the co-driver and the driver actually acts like a medic for the patient so the vehicle is driving back by itself and the two soldiers can take care of the patient,” explained Anshul Karn.

The vehicle is able to drive itself with an advanced navigation system and a 360 degree rotation passenger seat.

Now that Deep Orange 15 is complete, engineers said the vehicle will become a research property where research can be continued and will be used in research to find more ways to potentially save lives.

“This is what we came up with. It was a purely educational process. We got to learn a lot along the way and we got to make mistakes along the way and learn from that. It was crazy but also one of the greatest experiences of my life,” said Sankar.

Engineering students said they are looking to add multiple storage cabinets to Deep Orange 15 to store medical supplies.

Mechanical parts of Deep Orange 15 will be sent off in a few weeks to researchers at Clemson’s Virtual Prototyping Center for further testing.

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