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Response Robot Evaluation Exercise (#2)
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Event Introduction
Planning
is underway for the second in a series of response robot evaluation
exercises for DHS/FEMA US&R teams. This event will be hosted at
the TX-TF1 training facility known as Disaster
City located at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. All
applicable robots and supporting technologies (e.g., sensors), purchasable
and/or developmental, are invited to take part in this exercise, which
will highlight operationally relevant US&R scenarios specifically
devised for ground, aerial, and underwater response robots.
These response robot evaluation exercises for US&R teams introduce
emerging robotic capabilities to emergency responders while educating
robot developers regarding the necessary performance requirements to
be effective, along with the associated environmental conditions and
operational constraints to be useful. Standard test methods and usage
guides for US&R robot performance are under development within the
ASTM International E54.08 Subcommittee on Operational Equipment, which
is under the Homeland Security Committee. These events help refine the
proposed standard test methods and artifacts that developers can use
to practice critical capabilities and measure performance in ways that
are relevant to the end user, i.e. responders. These events are conducted
in actual US&R training scenarios to help correlate the proposed
standard test methods with envisioned deployment tasks and to lay the
foundation for the usage guides, which will provide guidance on which
robots are best suited for which response situations.
Disaster City is a 52-acre training facility designed to deliver the full array of skills and techniques needed by urban search and rescue professionals. As part of the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) at Texas A&M University and a training site for TX-TF1, the facility features full-size collapsible structures that replicate community infrastructure, including a strip mall, office building, industrial complex, assembly hall/theater, single family dwelling, train derailment and three rubble piles.
The robots envisioned
for use in these scenarios should deploy any or all appropriate sensors
such as: color cameras, microphones, speakers, thermal imagers, chemical
sensors, 3D mapping, GPS/GIS location, and/or other useful capabilities
such as payloads, manipulators, or others. General descriptions of
the robots sought are, but are not limited to:
-
Quickly launched, low altitude aerial surveillance robots
-
Ground based portable robots that can circumnavigate large unknown situations (i.e. around the train derailments).
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Highly agile, man-packable robots that can lead responders through complex environments (i.e. the buildings and rubble piles).
-
Confined space accessible robots for deployment into sub-human size voids or be thrown into/over inaccessible areas
-
Wall climbing robots for surveillance from elevated vantage points
-
Aquatic robots including surface, underwater, and bottom crawlers to perform pattern searches with sonar and/or other sensors
This
event will include three days of robot evaluations in all the available
US&R training props (see figures below). The first two days will
allow the assembled responders to deploy all participating robots within
the training props, become familiar with the robot's capabilities and
emerging technologies likely to provide benefits in the near term, and
provide feedback to developers regarding realistic usage of their robots.
On the third day, the emergency responders will choose the most successful
robots from the previous two days to perform their targeted (and practiced)
tasks in a four hour mock incident response exercise, including a working
incident command structure, a variety of responder assets (police, fire,
K-9 units), and US&R teams deploying their chosen robots (along
with the robot developers as advisors/observers). All teams will be
invited to watch the final day's incident response to observe the command
and control elements, the robot deployments, and other realistic training
details. An after action briefing will also be provided to assess the
operational impact and potential improvements necessary for robots to
become useful tools for US&R. All stakeholders will be able to provide
feedback on the proposed standard test methods. DHS and FEMA managers
interested in applying robots to US&R operations will be invited
to observe the final day's activities.
The hosts at TEEX will provide all the necessary logistical support such as tents, tables, power, water, and other facilities for all emergency responders and robot teams. NIST will provide proposed standard test artifacts and distribute proposed test methods in and around the existing props. A local hotel room block will be reserved and transportation from the hotel to the site will be provided to facilitate logistics. Lunches will be served at the site each day.
These
practice incident response exercises are as close as we have to the
real thing, and provide an important opportunity to introduce the potential
benefits of robots and advanced sensors into US&R responses. So
consider this an open invitation to present your applicable robot or
sensor to those that can benefit, and let them practice in a relevant
training environment, so that they can be better equipped, better trained,
and better prepared to save lives at the next disaster.
isd-webmaster@cme.nist.gov
Date Created: 02/17/2006
Last updated:
08/11/2008