Suzana Stojaković – Čelustka
Reza Raeisi
Mohammad Nourbakhsh
InfoSet d.o.o., Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM), Zagreb, Croatia
InfoSet d.o.o, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran
InfoSet d.o.o., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
Rapid advances in technology are revolutionizing the roles of aerial, terrestrial and maritime robotic systems in disaster relief. Robots can be deployed quickly in areas deemed too unsafe for humans and are used to guide rescuers, collect data, deliver essential supplies or provide communication services.
Information plays a key role in crisis management and relief efforts for natural disaster and firefighting scenarios. Given their flight properties, UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) provide new and interesting perspectives on the data gathering and processing for these purposes. A new generation of UAVs may help in rescuing missions in the way to be used to detect and enter damaged buildings, assisting rescue robots and responders on the ground by speeding up the search for survivors through prioritizing which areas to search first.
UAVs used for rescuing missions are most commonly powered by rechargeable batteries and are operated autonomously through onboard computers or by remote control. Their equipment typically comprises radar and laser scanners, multiple sensors and video and optical cameras as well as infrared cameras that are used to identify heat signatures of human bodies and other objects. This helps rescuers to locate survivors at night and in large, open environments and to identify hot spots from fires. Listening devices can pick up hard-to-hear audio, while Wi-Fi antennas and other attachments detect signals given off by mobile phones and plot a map that outlines the locations of victims.
Developing autonomous intelligent aerial search and rescue (ASAR) robots is faced with two main challenges. The first one is to achieve a sufficient autonomy level, both in terms of navigation and interpretation of the data sensed. The second major challenge relates to the reliability of the robot, with respect to accidental (safety) or malicious (security) risks. In the field of aerial rescuing robotics, big research challenges include also the design of a) robust enough hardware than can resist collisions and is easy to transport, b) new control methods for autonomous flight, c) innovative sensors for safe navigation and rescuing purposes, and d) fast interpretation and analysis of vital data collected through sensors.
This paper presents some of solutions to above mentioned challenges in design of ASAR robots for rescuing missions.
Key words
disaster management, firefighting, UAV, robot, ASAR, autonomous, rescuing mission
References
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[4] InfoSet Flying Tiger Model A1 specifications (2018), InfoSet
