In urban search and rescue (USAR) operations, there is a considerable amount of danger faced by rescuers. The use of mobile robots can alleviate this issue. Coordinating the search effort is made more difficult by the communication issues typically faced in these environments, such that communication is often restricted. With small numbers of robots, it is necessary to break communication links in order to explore the entire environment. The robots can be viewed as a broken ad hoc network, relying on opportunistic contact in order to share data. In order to minimise overheads when exchanging data, a novel algorithm for data exchange has been created which maintains the propagation speed of flooding while reducing overheads. Since the rescue workers outside of the structure need to know the location of any victims, the task of finding their locations is two parted: 1) to locate the victims (Search Time), and 2) to get this data outside the structure (Delay Time). Communication with the outside is assumed to be performed by a static robot designated as the Command Station. Since it is unlikely that there will be sufficient robots to provide full communications coverage of the area, robots that discover victims are faced with the difficult decision of whether they should continue searching or return with the victim data. We investigate a variety of search techniques and see how the application of biological foraging models can help to streamline the search process, while we have also implemented an opportunistic network to ensure that data are shared whenever robots come within line of sight of each other or the Command Station. We examine this trade-off between performing a search and communicating the results.

The area of Human-Robot Interaction deals with problems not only related to robots interacting with humans, but also with problems related to humans interacting and controlling robots. This dissertation focuses on the latter and evaluates multi-sensory (vision, hearing, touch, smell) feedback interfaces as a means to improve robot-operator cognition and performance. A set of four empirical studies using both simulated and real robotic systems evaluated a set of multi-sensory feedback interfaces with various levels of complexity. The task scenario for the robot in these studies involved the search for victims in a debris-filled environment after a fictitious catastrophic event (e.g., earthquake) took place. The results show that, if well-designed, multi-sensory feedback interfaces can indeed improve the robot operator data perception and performance. Improvements in operator performance were detected for navigation and search tasks despite minor increases in workload. In fact, some of the multi-sensory interfaces evaluated even led to a reduction in workload. The results also point out that redundant feedback is not always beneficial to the operator. While introducing the concept of operator omni-directional perception, that is, the operator’s capability of perceiving data or events coming from all senses and in all directions, this work explains that feedback redundancy is only beneficial when it enhances the operator omni-directional perception of data relevant to the task at hand. Last, the comprehensive methodology employed and refined over the course of the four studies is suggested as a starting point for the design of future HRI user studies. In summary, this work sheds some light on the benefits and challenges multi-sensory feedback interfaces bring, specifically on teleoperated robotics. It adds to our current understanding of these kinds of interfaces and provides a few insights to assist the continuation of research in the area.

Semi-autonomous control schemes can address the limitations of both teleoperation and fully autonomous robotic control of rescue robots in disaster environments by allowing cooperation and task sharing between a human operator and a robot with respect to tasks such as navigation, exploration and victim identification. Herein, a unique hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL) -based semi-autonomous control architecture is presented for rescue robots operating in unknown and cluttered urban search and rescue (USAR) environments. The aim of the controller is to allow a rescue robot to continuously learn from its own experiences in an environment in order to improve its overall performance in exploration of unknown disaster scenes. A new direction-based exploration technique and a rubble pile categorization technique are integrated into the control architecture for exploration of unknown rubble filled environments. Both simulations and physical experiments in USAR-like environments verify the robustness of the proposed control architecture.

Search and Rescue (SAR) operations aim at finding missing objects with minimum time in a determined area. There are fundamentally two problems in these operations. The first problem is assessing highly reliable probability distribution maps, and the second is determining the search pattern that sweeps the area from the air as fast as possible. In this study, geographic information systems (GIS) and multi criteria decision analysis (MCDA) are integrated and a new model is developed based upon Search Theory in order to find the position of the missing object as quickly as possible with optimum resource allocation. Developed model is coded as a search planning tool for the use of search and rescue planners. Inputs of the model are last known position of the missing object and related clues about its probable position. In the developed model, firstly related layers are arranged according to their priorities based on subjective expert opinion. Then a multi criteria decision method is selected and each data layer is multiplied by a weight corresponding to search expert&rsquo / s rank. Then a probability map is established according to the result of MCDA methods. In the second phase, the most suitable search patterns used in literature are applied based on established probability map. The developed model is a new approach to shortening the time in SAR operations and finding the suitable search pattern for the data of different crashes.

The major aim in search and rescue using mobile robots is to reach trapped survivors and to support rescue operations through the disaster environments. Our motivation is based on the fact that a search and rescue (SAR) robot can navigate within and penetrate a disaster area only if the area in question possesses connected voids Traversability or penetrability of a disaster area is a primary factor that guides the navigation of a search and rescue (SAR) robot, since it is highly desirable that the robot, without hitting a dead end or getting stuck, keeps its mobility for its primary task of reconnaissance and mapping when searching the highly unstructured environment We propose two novel guided prioritized exploration system: 1) percolation guided methodology where a percolator estimates the existence of connected voids in the upcoming yet unexplored region ahead of the robot so as to increase the efficiency of reconnaissance operation by the superior ability of the percolation guidance in speedy coverage of the area / 2) the hybrid exploration methodology that makes the percolation guided exploration collaborate with entropy based SLAM under a switching control dependent on either priority given to position accuracy or to map accuracy This second methodology has proven to combine the superiority of both methods so that the active SLAM becomes speedy, with high coverage rate of the area as well as accurate in localization.

This dissertation presents a novel multi-robot coordination control algorithm for search and rescue (SAR) operations. Continuous and rapid coverage of the unstructured and complex disaster areas in search of possible buried survivors is a time critical operation where prior information about the environment is either not available or very limited. Human navigation of such areas is definitely dangerous due to the nature of the debris. Hence, exploration of unknown disaster environments with a team of robots is gaining importance day by day to increase the efficiency of SAR operations. Localization of possible survivors necessitates uninterrupted navigation of robotic aiding devices within the rubbles without getting trapped into dead ends. In this work, a novel goal oriented prioritized exploration and map merging methodologies are proposed to generate efficient multi-robot coordination control strategy. These two methodologies are merged to make the proposed methodology more realistic for real world applications. Prioritized exploration of an environment is the first important task of the efficient coordination control algorithm for multi-robots. A goal oriented and prioritized exploration approach based on a percolation model for victim search operation in unknown environments is presented in this work. The percolation model is used to describe the behavior of liquid in random media. In our approach robots start prioritized exploration beginning from regions of the highest likelihood of finding victims using percolation model inspired controller. A novel map merging algorithm is presented to increase the performance of the SAR operation in the sense of time and energy. The problem of merging partial occupancy grid environment maps which are extracted independently by individual robot units during search and rescue (SAR) operations is solved for complex disaster environments. Moreover, these maps are combined using intensity and area based features without knowing the initial position and orientation of the robots. The proposed approach handles the limitation of existing works in the literature such as / limited overlapped area between partial maps of robots is sufficient for good merging performance and unstructured partial environment maps can be merged efficiently. These abilities allow multi-robot teams to efficiently generate the occupancy grid map of catastrophe areas and localize buried victim in the debris efficiently.

Semi-autonomous control schemes can address the limitations of both teleoperation and fully autonomous robotic control of rescue robots in disaster environments by allowing cooperation and task sharing between a human operator and a robot with respect to tasks such as navigation, exploration and victim identification. Herein, a unique hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL) -based semi-autonomous control architecture is presented for rescue robots operating in unknown and cluttered urban search and rescue (USAR) environments. The aim of the controller is to allow a rescue robot to continuously learn from its own experiences in an environment in order to improve its overall performance in exploration of unknown disaster scenes. A new direction-based exploration technique and a rubble pile categorization technique are integrated into the control architecture for exploration of unknown rubble filled environments. Both simulations and physical experiments in USAR-like environments verify the robustness of the proposed control architecture.

Thesis (MScEng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Search and Rescue is an essential service provided by States and Militaries to search for, locate and rescue survivors of accidents and incidents. Civil Search and Rescue utilizes a system of well-trained professionals or volunteers, an effective Search and Rescue organization, supported by industry and other providers of infrastructure and assets. The service is rendered to save the lives of civilian individuals in imminent danger of losing their lives. Military (Combat) Search and Rescue is provided by militaries to save the lives of military practitioners in a similar predicament. In addition, Search and Rescue is performed over land and over the sea. All forms of Search and Rescue rely on capable, specialized assets for efficiency en affectivity. Assets are specified and chosen on the grounds of various factors, amongst others operating environment, operational profile, performance and special abilities. This thesis has determined the need for a Search and Rescue asset, capable of performing effective and efficient Search and Rescue over the entire national maritime Search and Rescue Region, up to the Region extremities. An analysis was performed to prove this deficit, and quantify the key performance and special equipment requirements for such an asset. An analysis was also performed which proves that an Unmanned Aircraft System should be an ideal choice to meet this need. Finally, an Unmanned Aircraft System concept was specified that could potentially meet this need. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Soek en Redding is ‘n essentiële diens wat deur State en militêre organisasies gebied word om oorlewendes van ongelukke en insidente te soek, op te spoor en na veiligheid te bring. Siviele Soek en Redding maak gebruik van ‘n stelsel van goedopgeleide professionele persone, sowel as vrywilligers, asook ‘n effektiewe Soek en Reddingsorganisasie, ondersteun deur die industrie en ander voorsieners van infrastruktuur en toerusting. Derglike dienste word daargestel om die lewens van siviele persone, wie se lewens in gevaar is, te red. Militêre Soek en Redding word deur militêre organisasies daargetel om die lewens van militêre persone, wie in gevaar is, te red. Soek en Redding word oor land sowel as oor die see uitgevoer. Alle vorms van Soek en Redding maak staat op die beskikbaarheid van gespesialiseerde toerusting met gespesialiseerde gebruiksaanwending, vir maksimale effektiwiteit en doeltreffendheid. Toerusting word gekies op grond van verskeie faktore, onder meer die gebruiksomgewing, operasionele profiele, verlangde prestasie en spesiale vermoëns. Hierdie tesis het die behoefte aan ‘n gespesialiseerde Soek en Redding platform, wat die vermoë het om effektiewe en doeltreffende Soek en Redding uit te voer oor die hele nationale Soek en Redding Gebied, tot en met die ekstreme daarvan, vasgestel. ‘n Analise is uitgevoer om hierdie tekortkoming uit te wys, asook om die sleutel prestasie- en gespesialiseerde toerustingbehoeftes vir so ‘n platform te kwantifiseer. ‘n Verdere analise is uitgevoer om te bewys dat ‘n Onbemande Vliegtuig die beste opsie sou wees vir ‘n platform om aan hierdie behoeftes te voldoen. Ten slotte is ‘n konsep vir ‘n Onbemande Vliegtuig Stelsel voorgetsel wat potensieël hierdie behoefte sou kon vervul.

Orientador: Gustavo Pereira Fraga / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-25T22:05:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cardoso_RicardoGalesso_M.pdf: 2663051 bytes, checksum: 22a0b9761510d651b4c07c7bf8455737 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: O atendimento pré-hospitalar sofreu enormes avanços nas últimas décadas. Especificamente os conflitos armados contribuíram sobremaneira para a evolução do atendimento ao traumatizado, e dentro desse contexto, espelhando-se em experiências bem sucedidas nos períodos de guerra, o resgate e atendimento de pacientes utilizando o helicóptero foi estabelecido, passando posteriormente a ser amplamente utilizado no ambiente civil. O presente estudo tem por objetivo analisar descrever o perfil de doentes atendidos pelo sistema de resgate aeromédico na Região Metropolitana de Campinas, correlacionando-o ao apresentado na literatura mundial sobre o assunto, avaliando critérios de triagem e acionamento; tempo resposta, tempo de atendimento e de transporte; procedimentos invasivos realizados no APH; gravidade dos doentes; morbidade e mortalidade. Foi realizado estudo prospectivo descritivo, no qual foram analisados prontuários e fichas médicas de pacientes atendidos no período entre julho de 2010 e dezembro de 2012. Nesse período, 242 vítimas foram atendidas pela equipe de RA e levadas ao HC - Unicamp. Dos 242 pacientes, 22 foram excluídos do estudo, sendo que os dados de 220 pacientes foram analisados. Dos 220 casos avaliados, 173 (78,6%) eram do sexo masculino, com média de idade de 32 anos. O trauma contuso foi o mais frequente, acometendo 207 (94,1%) vítimas, sendo que dessas, 66 (30,0%) sofreram acidentes envolvendo motocicletas, 51 (23,2%) envolveram-se em colisões automobilísticas, 32 (14,5%) foram vítimas de quedas de altura, 31 (14,1%) sofreram atropelamentos. O tempo resposta médio foi de 10 ± 4 minutos, variando entre 3 e 48 minutos e o tempo total de pré-hospitalar teve média de 42 ± 11 minutos, variando entre 14 e 109 minutos. Os valores médios dos índices de trauma foram: RTS = 6,2 ± 2,2; ISS = 19,2 ± 12,6; e TRISS = 0.78 ± 0.3. Quarenta e três doentes (19,5%) obtiveram RTS de 7,84 e ISS ? 9, sendo classificados como "supertriados". Do total de pacientes admitidos, 185 (84,1%) receberam alta, com tempo médio de internação de 17,8 dias. O resgate aeromédico é uma importante ferramenta nos sistemas de atendimento a traumatizados. Apesar de sua ampla utilização, questões ainda permanecem em aberto acerca do real benefício desse recurso, e da melhor maneira de empregá-lo. O serviço de RA na cidade de Campinas é o primeiro a ser implantado em uma base no interior do estado de São Paulo, e apresenta dados bastante semelhantes aos apresentados na literatura. Houve um elevado índice de supertriagem, fato que demonstra a necessidade de se aperfeiçoarem os critérios de triagem e acionamento. Apesar do foco do presente estudo não ser a análise de influência do RA na sobrevida do paciente, nem a comprovação de seu custo efetividade, resultados como os descritos acima servem de estímulo para um estudo específico e mais aprofundado sobre o assunto, no contexto nacional / Abstract: Pre-hospital care has suffered enormous advances during the last decades. Armed conflicts have contributed greatly to the evolution of trauma care, and within this context, inspired by the successful experiences during periods of war, the rescue and care of patients using the helicopter was established, passing later to be widely used in the civilian environment. The present study aims at analyzing the profile of patients treated by the aeromedical rescue system in the metropolitan region of Campinas, correlating it to the data available in world literature on this subject. The topics evaluated will be: triage and activation criteria; response time, on scene time and transport time; invasive procedures performed in pre-hospital care; severity of trauma; morbidity and mortality. A prospective descriptive study was conducted, in which were analyzed charts and medical records of patients in the period between July 2010 and December 2012. During this period, 242 victims were treated by the aeromedical rescue team, and brought to the HC-Unicamp. Of the 242 patients, 22 were excluded from the study, and the data of 220 patients were analyzed. Of the 220 cases evaluated, 173 (78.6%) were male, with a mean age of 32 years. Blunt trauma was the most prevalent (207 cases - 94.1%) with the most common causes being motorcycle accidents (66 cases - 30%) and automobile collisions (51 cases - 23.2%). The average response time was 10 ± 4 minutes, varying between 3 and 48 minutes and total pre-hospital time averaged 42 ± 11 minutes, varying between 14 and 109 minutes. The mean values of the indices of trauma were: RTS = 6.2 ± 2.2, ISS = 19.2 ± 12.6 and TRISS = 0.78 ± 0.3. Pre-hospital traqueal intubation was performed in 77 cases (35%) and 43 patients (19.5%) had an RTS of 7.84 and an ISS ? 9, and were classified as overtriage. Of all patients admitted, 185 (84.1%) were discharged. The aeromedical rescue is an important tool in trauma systems. Despite its wide use, questions still remain unanswered about the real benefit of this feature, and the best way to use it. The aeromedical rescue service in the city of Campinas is the first to be stablished at a countryside base in the State of São Paulo, and presents data quite similar to those presented in the literature. There was a high rate of overtriage, a fact that demonstrates the need to improve the triage and activation criteria. Despite the focus of the present study was not the analysis of influence of aeromedical rescue in the survival rates of these patients, nor proof of its cost effectiveness, results like those described above serve as a stimulus for a specific and in-depth study on the subject, in the national context / Mestrado / Fisiopatologia Cirúrgica / Mestre em Ciências

Searching for lost people in a Wilderness Search and Rescue (WiSAR) scenario is a task that can benefit from large numbers of agents, some of whom may be robotic. These agents may have differing levels of autonomy, determined by the set of tasks they are performing. In addition, the level of autonomy that results in the best performance may change due to varying workload or other factors. Allowing a supervisor and a searcher to jointly decide the correct level of autonomy for a given situation (“mixed initiative”) results in better overall performance than giving an agent absolute control over their level of autonomy (“adaptive autonomy”) or giving a supervisor absolute control over the agent's level of autonomy (“adjustable autonomy”).