Use of unmanned systems for search and rescue in 2010 - Texas A&M University (TAMU) Scholar

This paper presents case studies of land, marine, and aerial robots deployed for search and rescue in calendar year 2010. These case studies include the use of unmanned vehicles after the Haitian earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Prospect Towers parking garage collapse in the USA, and the search for missing balloonists in the Adriatic Sea. It also reviews cases where robots were either requested or deployed but could not be used, such as the San Jose mine collapse in Chile, the Upper Big Branch Coal Mine explosion in the USA and the flooding of the Wangjialing Coal Mine in China. The case studies are expected to contribute to industry, agencies, and academia by providing a synopsis of the unmanned systems, unique characteristics of the environments, human-robot interaction, and other facets. The paper contributes valuable lessons learned and general insights on the state of the practice and remaining gaps, hopefully encouraging further refinement and accelerating adoption.

Use of unmanned systems for search and rescue in 2010 Conference Paper