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Departments: Quality Applications
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Envirosight LLC ROVVER robotic crawler and QuickView zoom camera

Breaking Free
Envirosight LLC ROVVER robotic crawler and QuickView zoom camera

The star of an April 1 weekend reenactment of a famous prison escape at Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary became the escape tunnel itself, excavated by archaeologists with images projected on-screen by Envirosight LLC. Using its ROVVER robotic crawler and QuickView zoom camera, the Envirosight team, guided by archaeologist Rebecca Yamin of John Milner Associates, pinpointed a remaining section of the 97-foot tunnel and sent back color images.

On April 3, 1945, 12 prisoners (including infamous bank robber Willie Sutton) escaped through the tunnel and out to the street in the early morning hours. Most were captured immediately, but Sutton and others remained at large for up to seven weeks. The unique "tunnel vision" was the first ever captured of the secret passageway that led the 12 men to temporary freedom and offered many similarities to the film The Shawshank Redemption.

"Our equipment is typically used for pipeline inspection, so this was a fun way to use our ROVVER and QuickView with tremendous historic benefits," said Richard Lindner, Envirosight president. The ROVVER is a robotic wheeled vehicle that travels through pipelines, operated with pinpoint accuracy by a remote pendant. It has an illuminated zoom camera that tilts and pans, capturing vivid color video. The QuickView is a zoom camera and a high-intensity light on an 18-foot extension pole. The controls for both devices are all operated from a safe distance, with video transmitted to large LCD monitors. Both were operated from the back of an Envirosight Outpost portable-inspection-unit truck, with two LCD monitors displaying the images for hourly tour groups.

"The condition and even existence of the tunnel, thought to have caved in or been filled in over time, was unknown until the excavation and underground inspection by the Envirosight equipment," says Sean Kelley, Eastern State's program director.

Families, schoolchildren and the Philadelphia media were among the first to see the live tunnel video, which showed wooden planks used for support thought to be stolen from the prison's workshop, wiring for lighting and even some metal pieces and other items thought to be digging tools. The tunnel was designed and dug by inmate Clarence Klinedinst, who reportedly flushed the dirt down the toilet and concealed the hole in his cell with a laundry basket. Klinedinst did plaster work in the prison and had access to tools and supplies. It took him a full year to dig the tunnel.

As part of the historical weekend, actors re-created the escape scene for the public as they held up pictures of their criminal counterparts and gave a brief history of each prisoner. Then, in the spot outside the wall where the 12 had emerged from the tunnel, the "prisoners" jumped to the sidewalk and were chased by police actors, who rounded up most of them to the cheers of the crowd.

"Seeing the small size of this tunnel, which we estimated at 24 inches in diameter, we can now imagine what the 12 desperate prisoners were feeling and seeing as they plunged into it," says Jake Wells, Envirosight marketing manager. One of the tour group's favorite images on the screen was a shot of the ROVVER crawler inside the tunnel, as viewed from the QuickView, climbing over dirt mounds toward the wooden bracing. Another LCD monitor showed close-ups of what the ROVVER was seeing from its on-board camera--zoomed images of the bracing, wire and possible tools. The Envirosight equipment recorded and stored all of the imagery for the Eastern State Penitentiary historical archives.

"It's incredible that equipment used for pipe inspections can show us exactly what the prisoners were experiencing in that tunnel… and capture and preserve a piece of history for us," says Kelley.

 

Envirosight LLC ROVVER robotic crawler and QuickView zoom camera

Benefits:

  • The ROVVER is a highly accurate, remote-controlled robotic crawler.
  • The QuickView is a zoom camera and high-intensity light source on an 18-foot pole.
  • Together, these devices allow detailed visual inspections of pipelines.

www.envirosight.com