Canine 2.0: Dogs in High-Tech Gear Could Aid Search-and-Rescue Efforts

Researchers are developing sophisticated harnesses for rescue dogs that aid in disaster relief and recovery. "We have developed techniques and technological platforms to improve the efficiency of search-and-rescue dog training and to augment the current capabilities of search-and-rescue dogs in the field," Alper Bozkurt and David Roberts, researchers at North Carolina State University, told Live Science in an email. The researchers modified off-the-shelf harnesses to combine microphones, cameras and environmental sensors that could transmit data from a disaster area. The high-tech harnesses aren't meant to replace dog handlers, but rather to work with them.