2017 14th International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots and Ambient Intelligence (URAI)
June 28 - July 1, 2017 at Maison Glad Jeju, Jeju, Korea
A Study on the Disaster Response Scenarios using Robot Technology
Oh SeungSub1, Hahm Jehun1, Jang Hyunjung1, Lee Soyeon1, Suh Jinho1
1
Disaster Robotics R&D Center, Korea Institute of Robot & Convergence, Pohang, 37666, Korea
(Tel : +82-54-279-0444; E-mail: oss98@kiro.re.kr)
Abstract – There are lots of dangerous situations in
disaster like fire, toxic gas accident and so on. In these
circumstances, it is hard to cope with disaster only by
human activities. Therefore, robot is the only means that
can be used in disaster environment where humans cannot
cope with. In order to use the robot in disaster situation, Fig. 2. Robot tasks to be required in disaster environments
the most important thing is to develop a robot utilization
scenario. In this paper, we address new scenario using We asked what function of the robot is necessary for
robots in difficult disaster to deal with only by human disaster response to the firefighters. The answers were like
power. below.
Keywords – Disaster Response Robot, Disaster Response - Search and rescue in unreachable environment
Robot Scenario, Indoor Scout Robot, Armored Robot, - Gathering an information about hazardous place
Integrated Operation System - Emergency responding for assisting firefighters
- Setting up wireless communicable environment
1. Introduction - Protecting firefighters like armored vehicle
In the future, emergency disaster response methods To satisfy the requirements of firefighters, we design
using robot technology will be becoming increasingly three types of robot.
important. As robot can be adapted in real disaster field, it Firstly, indoor scout robot is developing to gather an
is very important that define well disaster response information about hazardous indoor circumstance. It can
scenario using robot. be used to search for victims and set up wireless
There are several disaster response robot studies communication modules. Indoor scout robot can be
involving scenarios. Jacques Penders et al. introduced separated into drone and ground vehicle. Drone is needed
warehouse scenario for a robot swarm assisting[1]. Adam for rapid movement and ground vehicle is used for precise
Jacoff and Elena Messina addressed the training scenarios searching.
for response robot evaluation exercises[2]. Robin Secondly, we are making armored robot for assisting
Roberson Murphy researched work flow model of the firefighters in rescue work and emergency responding
technical search activity in urban search and rescue[3]. performance.
These works mainly concentrate on robot technologies
and do not exactly focused on ‘scenario’. In this paper we Table 1. Disaster Response Robots[4]
will introduce robot based disaster response method that
focus on scenario. In section 2, we will introduce the
Robots Explanation Image
robots we designed. We will address the disaster response
scenario based on the robots in section 3. Finally, we will Indoor-scout robot system
conclude this paper in section 4. development that available
Indoor Scout on remote and auto control
Robot quickly and safely for
2. Disaster Response Robots securement of information in
Asking to firefighters, there are lots of difficult things to disaster
respond to disaster. There is an unreachable environment Armored robot system
because of hazardous toxic gas, large fire, radiation and so development for support to
on. They are exposed collapse risk and explosion hazard Armored disaster prevention and
that can cause great damage to them. To protect them from Robot[5][6] protection of indoor rescue
these dangers, robots can be the only alternative. workers in complex disaster
environment
Movable integrated control
system development that
Integrated support situational
Operation understanding, emergency
System response or early restoration
work by remote control of
Fig. 1. Dangerous disaster environments multiplex robot in disaster
978-1-5090-3056-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 520
Finally, we are designing integrated operation system. armored robot. When firefighters are not able to enter the
It is a system for efficiently operating multiple robots. It buildings, the armored robots can enter the first floor by
will be used to carry the robots to the disaster site and to cutting or destroying the doors of 3x3m or less on the first
give the commander disaster environmental information floor. If the objects fall on the armored robots during the
more accurately. fire extinguish, the safety of the internal firefighters can be
secured. When the information of the wounded’s location
3. Disaster Response Robot Scenario is sent to the integrated operation system, the rescue
operation is carried out after confirming the location
In this section, we will describe the scenario of usage of information. At the same time, the firefighters wait
robots into four parts. We will show robot dispatch outside.
scenario in section 3.1. The integrated operation system
loads the robots and moves to the disaster site to put them 3.4. Integrated Operation System Scenario
on the spot. In section 3.2, it consists of the concept of
exploring the indoor environment and the usage of the The purpose of the integrated operation vehicle is to
indoor scout robot. In section 3.3, the scenario will be control the robots independently and operate the
addressed the armored robot that supports the firefighters heterogeneous and multiple robots in the area where the
to overcome disasters. Finally, we will explain how the operator has difficulty to approach to. First, when the
integrated operating system collects and utilizes indoor environment information is sent to the integrated
information from robots in section 3.4. control vehicle after inputting the indoor scout robot, the
global map is constructed by comparing with the map we
3.1. Robot Dispatch Scenario
have. After receiving the detection information from the
When disaster occurs, the caller reports the current indoor scout robot, it obtains the position of the wounded
situation to the respondent on the phone. At this time, the person and transmits rescue signal to the firefighter who is
respondent might decide that the robots need to be on the armored robot. Finally, the integrated operation
dispatched or not. When it is determined the robot is vehicle controls the entire system and prepares an
necessary because human cannot cope with the situation, unexpected situation.
the robot is dispatched.
When the integrated operation system moves with the 4. Conclusion
robots, it is necessary to obtain information about the
building and/or surrounding terrain. This is because they Disaster response scenarios are getting more important
can be deployed quickly after arrival. for presenting the advanced direction of disaster response
After they arrives at the site, they are quickly released. robot technology, reevaluating and building a database of
After getting off them, the indoor scout robot searches the the disaster environment. The definition of the disaster
room to enter and armored robot quickly searches the spot environment is not precise yet, and a number of cases is
to set location of water and connect firefighting lakes. At not much analyzed.
the same time, the integrated operating system installs a However, it is expected that it will be an important data
module for wireless communication near the building. that analyze typical disasters and if the data is accumulated,
it can be the base to apply complex disaster situation and
3.2. Indoor Scout Robot Scenario expand the perspective to the global. If scenarios are
derived from each type of disaster, it is necessary to
The indoor scout robot is designed to quickly get inside
systematize the operational procedures for the immediate
the building and acquire internal information and install
response of disaster robots and to take action based on
communication modules. It enters an open windows or
these scenarios.
spaces on two or more floors in flight. Thereafter, a
communication module is installed to secure a
communication network. Indoor scout robot moves
holding falling objects. It navigates in the building and
continually transfers environmental information in the
form of video information, location of victims and
temperature, toxic gases and so on.
3.3. Armored Robot Scenario
The functions of the armored robots are fireproof,
waterproof, and impact resistant, which can move into the
disaster environment such as structural debris or ramps
while ensuring the safety of the internal firefighters in a
disaster environment. In addition, a robot platform is
capable of performing disaster prevention work, remote
control operation with occupant-assisted operation and
task-level autonomy. Figure 3 shows the scenario of the Fig. 3. Design of Disaster Response Robots
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F ig. 4. Disaster Response Scenario using Robots
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Acknowledgement
This material is based upon work supported by the
Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy(MOTIE, Korea)
under Industrial Technology Innovation Program.
No.10067169, 'Development of Disaster Response Robot
System for Lifesaving and Supporting Fire Fighters at
Complex Disaster Environment'
References
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[2] Jacoff, A. and E. Messina, “DHS/NIST response robot
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[3] Murphy, R.R., “Human-robot interaction in rescue
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