Autonomous Search and Rescue is currently a hot investigation area, especially after the 11 September World Trade Center terrorist attack. But the concept has been under active development previously, namely on Japan, where earthquakes are of unfortunate frequency. The following list presents some of the existing research and development programs:
· The European Union has been promoting this kind of research and development projects, on its V Quadro Program, under the IST Programme, Key Action I, cluster “Intelligent Systems for Risk & Disaster Management”, from the “Environment & Humanitarian Demining” unit. Nine projects (see http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka1/environment/projects/projects1.htm) were approved and are being executed right now on that cluster, among them the ROBOSENSE, closely related to the RAPOSA project.
· On Japan, a country with heavy seismic activity, there are several groups evolved on developing SaR (academic or commercial) prototype systems. In August 2001, the Japanese economy, trade and industry minister announced a program, "Robot Challenge in the 21st Century", whose purpose is to support and promote the development of the robotic industry on this country, with special emphasis on SaR robots, aiming to lead Japan to be the more advance country of the world on the robotic field.
· In the United States of America, the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue from the National Institute for Search and Rescue is the latest result of the increasing interest shown by the North American authorities in supporting the development of robotic technology that may aid human SaR teams. CRASAR robots were used in SaR operations on the World Trade Center.
At this moment there are already some commercial robots, to which the RAPOSA robot aims to be an alternative:
· iRobot (www.irobot.com), Massachussets, U.S.A .: develops robotic platforms mainly oriented to R&D, but more recently they have also entered the entertaining and service robotic market. Their main commercial product at the moment is the Packbot robot, designed to aid in recognition missions on urban environments, that features a remarkable mobility and sturdiness.
· RoboProbe Technologies, Inc. (www.roboprobe.com), Illinois, U.S.A.: develops various sizes robots, aimed at different tasks, including pipe inspection with video cameras, bomb disarming, among others.
· Everest VIT (www.everestvit.com), New Jersey, U.S.A.: being a specialist on remote image products, their latest focus is on small sized robots (0.1 to 1.5m) for pipe inspection.
· Inuktun (www.inuktun.com), British Columbia, Canada: projects and builds robotic systems remotely operated and modular components for use in confined spaces and hostile environments. Some of its robots were uses in SaR operations on the World Trade Center.
· Foster-Miller (www.foster-miller.com), Massachussets, U.S.A.: its products range from small electronic devices to large scale equipment to civil construction, made to fit their customers needs. On robotics the company has developed bomb disarming robots, mine detectionl and removal, industrial cleaning, etc. Some of these robots can easily be adapted for SaR operations, as the World Trade Center experience revealed.
· Domy & Co. (domyco.com), Seoul, South Korea .: This is a company that delivers a great range of mechatronic products, namely SaR robots, that feature wireless communications and audio communication with possible survivors.
Scientific investigation on this field has also been advancing steady, and from its work some prototypes have arise,
whose development provides interesting leads to where commercial prototypes may develop further.
Among them, the following deserve special attention:
Four groups from theInstituto de Sistemas e Robótica/Instituto Superior Técnico (ISR/IST) are working since November of 2000, on a research project funded by the POSI 99 program, from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia named "RESCUE - Cooperative Navigation for Rescue Robots" (http://rescue.isr.ist.utl.pt/). Its long-term objective is to study and promote the use of innovative methodologies in multi-robots systems used on exterior environments. The groups are "Controlo Inteligente" (intelligent control), "Robótica Móvel" (mobile robotics), "Visão Robótica" (robotic vision) and "Inteligência Artificial" (artificial intelligence) from the ISR/IST. The members of the IST that are a part of the RAPOSA team belong to the first two mentioned groups, and intent to transfer some of the results gathered on the RESCUE project into technological developments in the RAPOSA project, namely adjustable autonomy depending on the type of terrain, releasing the operator from the details of driving the robot whenever possible. These technologies will also be advised by some of the possible users of the final product, namely the Sapadores Bombeiros de Lisboa who will provide useful feedback based on their SaR experience, as well as the visit to Prof. Robin Murphy laboratories, in the University of South Florida (member of CRASAR).
