European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 18, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                " constrictors and pulling in Light com Farn a of immobility to a fellow passenger in our ditch my exercise Mary Ellen Ouigley. A High attendant Lor Northwest airlines and she showed How to let out some of the air by using a Fingernail to press the valve in either of the red nozzles that Are also used Tor inflating by Mouth if the Gas cartridges fail. Not All of the  professionals were up to Date on All essentials in our exercise tour  attendants volunteered to go into the Chilly Waler in their me vests and under instruction from Ken Barton a teacher of survival courses from Florida boarded the raft from the sides instead of the end. Where the rest of us had been instructed to get on Don t swim to the raft in a real situation Barton warned through an amplified megaphone Over the Roar of a coast guard helicopter which was hovering to perform a demonstration pickup the raft will come to you. It s going faster than you can and behave it or not it s going in the same direction " when the four volunteers had been pulled Over the inhaled sides of the Goodrich raft a Man next to me oat led his we Vest turned and said i never realized you d have to swim backward in these things " indeed the design of life jackets keep wearers face up on purpose limiting mobility to a backstroke do Paddio. These issues Are relatively minor it is very rare that a disabled plane settles on the water and people Don life vols and jump into the slide raft. Fire was a More Likely Hazard assessed at the conference sponsored by the Southern California safety Institute the University of Southern California and the Federal aviation administration. Fires in the Galley of the Cabin. In engines in wiring or moving from one to the other were a repealed subject of discussion. For instance a report by a specialist Lor the Federal aviation administration Julie a Clark taught me that the cover on the Towel disposal bin in the toilet is designed to Spring shut because this would help contain a fire inside. The new requirement Tor smoke detectors in the toilet was cited As a step ahead. A study commissioned by the British civil aviation authority after a 1985 Accident at the Manchester Airport stirred great interest. An aborted Takeoff in a Boeing 737 there led to a Cabin fire and 55 people died aboard mainly from smoke and fumes. Or. Helnn Muir reported on research conducted at the College of aeronautics at Cranfield England on How the Competition to survive affected the passengers rate of flow out of the plane exits. A thousand volunteers were used in 79 tests with different arrangements of the seats Interior Walls and open exits. Each Volunteer was paid the equivalent of $20 to participate in four tests. The participants were told that they would get $10 extra each Lime they were among the first half of the people to escape from he fuselage. The videotapes demonstrated that this modest incentive created fierce Competition with people wedging into narrow passages climbing Over seat tops and crawling Over each other. The Early escapes were Stop and go disorganized and often jammed in the exit opening. But when half the people were out the flow became smooth and More rapid the remaining people knew they were not going to get the extra $10, because the Competition was Over. No one had any ideas How to change this reality of human behaviour. But seat arrangements and widths of passageways could be changed and the British rules were revised to Widen the space Between the seat Row in front of the exit Over the Wing and the one behind in. The British ruled that once a 32-Inch Pilch or seat interval was provided the outside Seal on the Row behind the Over Wing exit should be removed. This step greatly eased opening of the exit and someone holding the 46 Pound Hatch was far less Likely to lose balance and Lall Back Mlo the scat in his summary of the conference. Jim Burneti. N member of the National transportation safety Board and its former chairman said that he was pleased that the British had Learned the "lesson1 of Manchester and hoped mat they would be widely applied a requirement for removal of the scat be l to the Over Wing exit was a possibility he indicated Burnett said that he found the Muir videotapes enlightening but said that perhaps the human behaviour was worse than it might be in a real emergency because a test with a Cash incentive might destroy civilizing limitations on behaviour and give permission for Competition. However. Burnett said in the interview it is now Clear that evacuating a plane is not As easy As it seems in safety tests required of . Passenger planes namely that they be evacuated in 90 seconds some lips on what a passenger might do to prepare Lor an emergency were offered in an interview with an experienced flight attendant Barbara Dunn of air Canada who is now health and safety chairperson of the airline division of the Canadian Union of Public employees first she said Wear natural fabrics and avoid polyesters which can fuse and Burn you in a fire Wear Hal shoes Al Takeoff and Landing sit with both your tool on the floor and slightly ahead of the Seal the seat Belt should be worn Low and tight if it is up Over your Abdomen an abrupt Slop can cause you to slide out and under the Seal in front of you. Which safely experts Call sub arising " do not carry any aerosol containers in your Luggage or any Curling Irons that use butane cartridges which can explode. You need not ask for a seat by an Etil. And unless you feel Strong enough to open the emergency a its you probably should nol however you should assure yourself where the two nearest exits Are. On my flight Homo i walked All around the plane and studied the directions trying to remember thai All of this would probably have to be done in the dark Selling for less than $50.000, she says Tish plur Dehart 44, a vocational rehabilitation Counselor in Pittsburgh helps test the station Wilh paralysed legs and Only limited use of her arms she knows first hand the benefits of such a helpmate. It does All kinds of things from getting a Book off a Shell for a to turning off a radio to picking up a file and putting it m an in out Box she says the Woik station has an Arm that turns bends and swivels As Pferdehirt Speaks commands into a microphone it Letches things looks up Telephone numbers and dials the phone Engelhard Hopes to make the robot work on projects independently such As shredding paper when she is not there thus making it More valuable Joseph r Engelberger has big corporate backers for his service robots projects in the works at Enzo Borger s transitions research corp of Danbury con include development of robots that will swoop or scrub floors in airports or supermarkets and Letch drugs Lor pharmacists in mail order Wai houses another Engelberger robot is help mate a nurse s aide that delivers meals to Hospital patients and makes other deliveries such As taking a urine specimen to a lab help mate designed to use elevators and negotiate hallways As it moves by itself on wheels is being tested and Engelberger said it will go on sate Lor $40,000 by year s end Engelberger Hopes to get corporate backing to build his dream robot a $50,000 household Helper that would prepare Light meals clean House and Clear Snow. But he can t figure out How to teach it to make Beds. He estimates in would take up to $14 million and Zvi years to develop but american companies so far have been unwilling to make the initial investment Engelberger helped Pioneer an Industrial robot More than 30 years ago but the history of the automaton goes Back further. The whole idea of building a mechanical Man is fairly old Oravec says there were clockwork automatons built by Swiss and French a locksmiths in Tish Pter Dohert watches a computer controlled robotic Arm As it picks up a computer disk. The Arm is part of a work station being designed to help handicapped people. The 18th Century and 17th Century the term robotics was coined in 1942 in a science fiction Story by Isaac Asimov from the word robot which was coined in 1921 by czech playwright Karel Capek. In 1954, american inventor George Devol filed a Patent for a programmable robot Arm whose movement was controlled by punched program cards. In 1958. Devol and Engelberger formed a company to build the machines. Their Lisl Industrial robot was installed in 1961 in a general motors corp Plant Engelberger says visions in the 1950s of a robot filled world fizzled when the promises outran technology everything was supposed to become automated he says it was All Blue sky. But the technology was t available the technology is just becoming available but i have a difficult time convincing people we can do it  Arch 18,1989 the stars and stripes Page 15