An analysis of the development of a safety-critical system for an Urban Search

Abstract

Today, dogs and humans are used in rescueing victims from disasters involving collapsed buildings, trapped tunnels and so forth. However, in some cases, robots have been deployed to assist the rescue teams. The tragic events of the World Trade Center in 2001 involved Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) robots pioneering rescue search with the help of information technology and robotics engineering. This report describes the design and implementation of a safety-critical system of a USAR robot model which will serve as a basis for analysis and development of future USAR robots. The scenario used in the experiment is a USAR robot prototype searching for survivors in a building which has collapsed. We analyse the scenario on a real prototype made up of Lego Mindstorms parts and equipped with a camera relaying real-time images to a workstation. The paper is a continuation of the report I submitted in December 2005; "Identifying the risks involved in the design of a safety-critical system for an Urban Search and Rescue robot".