<p>The interest in robots in the urban search and rescue (USAR) field has increased the last two decades. The idea is to let robots move into places where human rescue workers cannot or, due to high personal risks, should not enter.In this thesis project, an application is constructed with the purpose of teleoperating a simple robot. This application contains a user interface that utilizes both autonomous and semi-autonomous functions, such as search, explore and point-and-go behaviours. The purpose of the application is to work with USAR principles in a refined and simplified environment, and thereby increase the understanding for these principles and how they interact with each other. Furthermore, the thesis project reviews the recent and the current status of robots in USAR applications and use of teleoperation and semi-autonomous robots in general. Some conclusions that are drawn towards the end of the thesis are that the use of robots, especially in USAR situations, will continue to increase. As robots and support technology both become more advanced and cheaper by the day, teleoperation and semi-autonomous robots will also be seen in more and more places.</p><p> </p>

Artificial immune systems (AIS), biologically inspired from natural immune functions, can be reactive as well as adaptive in handling generic and varying pathogens, respectively. Researchers have used the immunological metaphors to solve science and engineering problems where unknown/unexpected scenarios are plausible. AIS can be a suitable choice for various robotic applications requiring reactive and/or deliberative control. This research aims to translate modern trends in immunology, to develop an immunity-based framework, to control a team of heterogenous robots on varying levels of task allocation and mutual interactions. The presented framework is designed to work as a multi-agent system in which safe environment is treated reactively through innate immunity, whereas unsafe situations invoke adaptive part of immune system, simultaneously. Heterogeneity is defined in terms of different sensing and/or actuation capabilities as well as in terms of different behavior-sets robot(s) possess. Task allocation ranges from primitive to advanced behaviors. Mutual interactions, on the other hand, range from simpler one-to-one interaction to mutual coordination. In this context, a new immunity-based algorithm has been developed & tested, combining innate and adaptive immunities, to regulate cell populations and corresponding maturations, along with internal health indicators, in order to effectively arbitrate behaviors/robots in a heterogenous robotic system, in environments that are dynamic and unstructured. / text

This thesis focuses on the finite element modeling and analysis of wood shoring towers used by Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) teams during emergency response situations. These shores are constructed on site to provide temporary stabilization to a damaged structure. A high demand exists for experimental testing of the performance of these shores under non-ideal loading conditions, and for possible design modifications that could improve their overall behavior. To respond to this need, a total of thirteen vertical shores of the type laced post (LP) and plywood laced post (PLP) were constructed and tested at the Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory (FSEL) in Austin, Texas. The tests conducted on these shores aimed to investigate their performance under purely vertical load as well as various combinations of vertical and lateral loads. Finite element models for eight of the shores tested at FSEL were built and analyzed in Abaqus to compare the computed results with the actual linear elastic response of the shores. Material properties for the posts in each shore were obtained through further material testing at the conclusion of each shore test. Shore members were assumed to be isotropic. Solid elements were used to model each member, and Cartesian connector elements with a predefined nonlinear stiffness were used to model each nail. In general, the vertical load-displacement response computed from Abaqus exhibited good agreement with the laboratory results for the linear elastic range. The same general modeling scheme was then used to make design changes to the original shores based on observations gained during testing as well as modeling. Each design change was modeled, analyzed, and then compared with the computed results from the original shore design as well as the other design changes. The basis for evaluating the effectiveness of a given shore design involved comparing the bending moment diagrams for each post and the maximum first story nail slips (connector displacements). Recommendations were made for improved shore designs to be verified by experimental testing. / text

A common problem in existing Search And Rescue (SAR) systems is that they must be activated by the missing person in order to work. This requires an awareness of the the risk of becoming distressed, which in many cases is not feasible. Furthermore, most of the localization systems require specialized hardware.In this thesis, the victim is assumed to wear a cellphone that could be located using readily available consumer electronics. A method of estimating the position of a transmitter, given radio signal measurements at different locations, is developed and verified with real and simulated data. A proof-of-concept system is built in which several users can jointly collect received signal strength data at different locations using mobile phones. The system analyzes the data in real-time and guides the users in the search by estimating the origin of the signal.An outdoor field test is conducted in which the searchers using the system are able to locate the hidden target phone without prior knowledge regarding the position. We are able to localize the victim with an accuracy of 10-20 meters in a timely manner using android smartphones. This shows the potential of a similar system in \abbrSAR scenarios. However, more work is needed to make the system viable in real scenarios and to remove some of the delimitations of the current implementation.

In this thesis work, a mobile robot is designed to be used in search and rescue operations to help the human rescue workers. The difficult physical conditions in the ruins obstruct the movement. Therefore, it is aimed to design a search and rescue robot which can move easily on rough terrain and climb over the obstacles. The designed robot is made up of three modules. A connecting unit is designed that is situated between each module. This connecting unit which is composed of two universal and one revolute joint gives 5 DOF relative motions to the modules. On the other hand, the wheel&rsquo / s continuous contact with the ground is important while moving on rough terrain. In order to increase the adaptation of the robot to the rough terrain the rear axle is connected to the body with a revolute joint. Besides, skid steering system is used in the design of the robot to attain a compact and light solution which requires few parts. In the study, kinematic equations and dynamic equations of the robot are obtained to be used by the control program. The dynamic equations are obtained by using the Newton &ndash / Euler formulation. The forces, which are transmitted by the connecting unit to the modules, and the reaction forces formed between the wheels and the ground are derived by using these equations. &ldquo / Follow-the-Leader approach&rdquo / is used as a control strategy to make the modules move in formation and to reduce the tracking problem. In this approach, the first module is the leader and the second and third modules follow it. A Matlab program is written to control the robot by using the constructed mathematical model of the robot. The reaction forces between the wheels and the ground are calculated through using the Matlab program written. Moreover to make the simulations of the robot for some cases, a model is constructed in ADAMS program.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Computer Science, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-119).

abstract: Although current urban search and rescue (USAR) robots are little more than remotely controlled cameras, the end goal is for them to work alongside humans as trusted teammates. Natural language communications and performance data are collected as a team of humans works to carry out a simulated search and rescue task in an uncertain virtual environment. Conditions are tested emulating a remotely controlled robot versus an intelligent one. Differences in performance, situation awareness, trust, workload, and communications are measured. The Intelligent robot condition resulted in higher levels of performance and operator situation awareness (SA). / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Applied Psychology 2015

abstract: Humans and robots need to work together as a team to accomplish certain shared goals due to the limitations of current robot capabilities. Human assistance is required to accomplish the tasks as human capabilities are often better suited for certain tasks and they complement robot capabilities in many situations. Given the necessity of human-robot teams, it has been long assumed that for the robotic agent to be an effective team member, it must be equipped with automated planning technologies that helps in achieving the goals that have been delegated to it by their human teammates as well as in deducing its own goal to proactively support its human counterpart by inferring their goals. However there has not been any systematic evaluation on the accuracy of this claim. In my thesis, I perform human factors analysis on effectiveness of such automated planning technologies for remote human-robot teaming. In the first part of my study, I perform an investigation on effectiveness of automated planning in remote human-robot teaming scenarios. In the second part of my study, I perform an investigation on effectiveness of a proactive robot assistant in remote human-robot teaming scenarios. Both investigations are conducted in a simulated urban search and rescue (USAR) scenario where the human-robot teams are deployed during early phases of an emergency response to explore all areas of the disaster scene. I evaluate through both the studies, how effective is automated planning technology in helping the human-robot teams move closer to human-human teams. I utilize both objective measures (like accuracy and time spent on primary and secondary tasks, Robot Attention Demand, etc.) and a set of subjective Likert-scale questions (on situation awareness, immediacy etc.) to investigate the trade-offs between different types of remote human-robot teams. The results from both the studies seem to suggest that intelligent robots with automated planning capability and proactive support ability is welcomed in general. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2015

abstract: While developing autonomous intelligent robots has been the goal of many research programs, a more practical application involving intelligent robots is the formation of teams consisting of both humans and robots. An example of such an application is search and rescue operations where robots commanded by humans are sent to environments too dangerous for humans. For such human-robot interaction, natural language is considered a good communication medium as it allows humans with less training about the robot's internal language to be able to command and interact with the robot. However, any natural language communication from the human needs to be translated to a formal language that the robot can understand. Similarly, before the robot can communicate (in natural language) with the human, it needs to formulate its communique in some formal language which then gets translated into natural language. In this paper, I develop a high level language for communication between humans and robots and demonstrate various aspects through a robotics simulation. These language constructs borrow some ideas from action execution languages and are grounded with respect to simulated human-robot interaction transcripts. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Computer Science 2012

The interest in robots in the urban search and rescue (USAR) field has increased the last two decades. The idea is to let robots move into places where human rescue workers cannot or, due to high personal risks, should not enter.In this thesis project, an application is constructed with the purpose of teleoperating a simple robot. This application contains a user interface that utilizes both autonomous and semi-autonomous functions, such as search, explore and point-and-go behaviours. The purpose of the application is to work with USAR principles in a refined and simplified environment, and thereby increase the understanding for these principles and how they interact with each other. Furthermore, the thesis project reviews the recent and the current status of robots in USAR applications and use of teleoperation and semi-autonomous robots in general. Some conclusions that are drawn towards the end of the thesis are that the use of robots, especially in USAR situations, will continue to increase. As robots and support technology both become more advanced and cheaper by the day, teleoperation and semi-autonomous robots will also be seen in more and more places.