Disaster response and recovery from the perspective of robotics

Abstract

As we witnessed in recent major disasters, the functionalities of robots in disaster environments do not appear to meet the high level of expectation from the public. This paper reviews robotic operations in disaster situations and open issues with the current robotic technologies. We particularly address fundamental problems with teleoperated ground robots for disaster response and recovery: design of robot platforms and balance between human supervisory control and robotic anatomy. In attempt to alleviate the problems, this paper suggests enabling technologies to improve the effectiveness of robotic systems for disaster response and recovery missions.