Search and rescue robots developed by the European Icarus project

This paper discusses the efforts of the European ICARUS project towards the development of unmanned search and rescue (SAR) robots. ICARUS project proposes to equip first responders with a comprehensive and integrated set of remotely operated SAR tools, to increase the situational awareness of human crisis managers. In the event of large crises, a primordial task of the fire and rescue services is the search for human survivors on the incident site, which is a complex and dangerous task. The introduction of remotely operated SAR devices can offer a valuable tool to save human lives and to speed up the SAR process. Therefore, ICARUS concentrates on the development of unmanned SAR technologies for detecting, locating and rescuing humans. The remotely operated SAR devices are foreseen to be the first explorers of the area, along with in-situ supporters to act as safeguards to human personnel. While the ICARUS project also considers the development of marine and aerial robots, this paper will mostly concentrate on the development of the unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) for SAR. Two main UGV platforms are being developed within the context of the project: a large UGV including a powerful arm for manipulation, which is able to make structural changes in disaster scenarios. The large UGV also serves as a base platform for a small UGV (and possibly also a UAV), which is used for entering small enclosures, while searching for human survivors. In order not to increase the cognitive load of the human crisis managers, the SAR robots will be designed to navigate individually or cooperatively and to follow high-level instructions from the base station, being able to navigate in an autonomous and semi-autonomous manner. The robots connect to the base station and to each other using a wireless self-organizing cognitive network of mobile communication nodes which adapts to the terrain. The SAR robots are equipped with sensors that detect the presence of humans and will also be equipped with a wide array of other types of sensors. At the base station, the data is processed and combined with geographical information, thus enhancing the situational awareness of the personnel leading the operation with in-situ processed data that can improve decision-making.