Safety Security and Rescue Robotics: Committee Information
IEEE Robotics and Automation's Technical Committee
on:
Safety Security and Rescue Robotics
Scope

Intelligent rescue systems with ITC and robotics technology have been proposed to mitigate disaster damages, especially in Japan after the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.
In particular, it is has been stressed the importance of developing robots for search and rescue tasks, which can actually work in a real disaster site. In 2002 the "Special Project for Earthquake Disaster Mitigation in Urban Areas" (5 years project) was launched by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan. It aims at significant mitigation of the earthquake disaster damage on the scale of the Great Hanshin Earthquake, in big city regions such as Tokyo metropolitan area and Keihanshin area.

In USA the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New York City and Washington, DC, the hijacked plane crash in Pennsylvania, and the Anthrax attack that immediately followed instantly changed people's attitude about safety and security in their personal lives. Family safety now influences every activity that previously was taken for granted. Going to public events, traveling, opening the mail, and visiting the family are nowadays activities requiring special attention. Sophisticated technology has become a lethal weapon in the hands of terrorists, who use these systems to attack civilians and the infrastructure of normally benign cities. Public safety and security problems are not limited to the United States, since every country has experienced man-made and natural disasters in the past. Solutions will depend upon new, unconventional approaches to search and rescue as well as technology that reduces a terrorist's ability to use the system to achieve his goals.

Robotics, automation, intelligent machines, systems and devices can play an important role in providing technology that can contribute to Safety, Security and Rescue activities. The technical knowledge and skills, that the members of our Society can provide, in support of this international effort, are invaluable. The President's Science Advisor, Dr. John Marburger was quoted in the N.Y. Times as saying " We need to understand what ideas are out there. We need to let the intellectual community know what is needed from our perspective." Other articles point out that technological abuses always lead to technological solutions.

Today we can think of many ways that technology can be used to improve civilian safety and minimize the inconvenience to the majority of people who are responsible citizens. These include (just to name a few) devices that can peer through walls, high speed and accurate personal identification, sensors and systems to rapidly detect hidden weapons and bombs, intelligent machines for search and rescue, surveillance and security robots, and hazardous materials handling. The members of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society must join this effort along with other professional organizations. To help stimulate this process, the RAS has formed a new Technical Committee and is formulating plans with the RAS Conference Board for Meetings, Workshops, and Conferences on anti-terrorism technology and mitigation technology of disasters. The Technical Committee (TC), consists of Co-chairs and RAS members who can make a contribution to this effort. The Task Force will concentrate on civilian safety and rescue and will include natural disasters such as earthquakes and storms. Technology for the military will not be included under this Task Force. Although the technical scope of the committee is subject to further refinements, subjects include the design and implementation of robots and mobile sensory systems for the following purposes:
Rapid and secure identification and verification of travelers
Rapid mass screening of luggage, packages, and parcels
Rescue from damaged urban structures

Hazardous material handling
Detection of chemical, biological, and radiological risks
Explationa and Surveillance of dangerous sites
Remote control of security operations (using the Internet)

Search and rescue
Humanitarian demining
This is a limited list that will be enlarged after future discussion and many topics will be added when application domains are analyzed. These include transportation, food handling, mail handling, urban safety, water supplies, and many other non-military areas. The Technical Committee Co-chairs will welcome input from both the academic and industrial members of our Society with specific emphasis on ADCOM members.

A tentative list of activities that the Task Force has established as an initial program plan, to be presented to the Society AD/COM is the following:

Annual IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics
Dates: Fall of each year
Location: Rotates: USA, Europe, Japan

Rescue Robotics Excercise
Date: Fall, every other year
Location in 2007: Istituto Superiore Antincendi - Via del Commercio, 13 - ROMA - Italy
URL: http://sied.dis.uniroma1.it/ssrr07/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=36

Rescue Robotics Camp 2007
Dates: September 22-26 2007
Location: Istituto Superiore Antincendi - Via del Commercio, 13 - ROMA - Italy
URL: http://sied.dis.uniroma1.it/ssrr07/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=37

Special issue of the Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems on SSRR
Edited by: Richard Voyles (University of Denver) and Julie Adams (Vanderbilt University)
Issue to appear: Fall of 2010
Contact Information: Richard Voyles (rvoyles at du dot edu)
URL: http://www.journalfieldrobotics.org/si.html

Activities
  • IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics 2011 (SSRR11)   Workshop    November 20, 2011 - Kyoto, Japan
    Contact Information: Fumitoshi Matsuno
  • Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems on SSRR   Special Issue    September 0, 2010 - Journal of Field Robotics
    Contact Information: Richard Voyles, Julie Adams
  • IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics 2010 (SSRR10)   Workshop    July 26, 2010 - Bremen, Germany
    Contact Information: Andreas Birk
  • NSF - JST - NIST Workshop on Rescue Robotics   Rescue Robotics Camp    March 11, 2010 - Disaster City, TX
    Contact Information: Robin Murphy (murphy at cs dot tamu dot edu)

    International gathering of roboticists and emergency responders to test robots on the NIST testbeds and on realistic simulations of disaster conditions at Disaster City.

  • IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics 2009 (SSRR09)   Workshop    November 6, 2009 - Denver, Colorado, USA
    Contact Information: Richard Voyles
  • Robotics for Disaster Response   Workshop    May 13, 2009 - ICRA 2009
    Contact Information: Satoshi Tadokoro
  • IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics 2008 (SSRR08)   Workshop    October 31, 2008 - Sendai, Japan is the proposed location
  • SICE 2008 Safety,Security, and Rescue Robot Systems   Organized Session    August 22, 2008 - Tokyo, Japan
    Contact Information: Fumitoshi Matsuno (matsuno at hi dot mce dot uec dot ac dot jp)

    SICE 2008

  • Journal of Field Robotics on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics   Special Issue    February 0, 2008 -
    Contact Information: Voyles Richard (rvoyles at du dot edu)
  • Rescue Robotics Excercise 2007   Event - Rescue Robotics Excercise    September 26, 2007 - Istituto Superiore Antincendi - Via del Commercio, 13 - ROMA - Italy

    The goal of the Rescue Robotics Exercise is to present tools for support in emergency operations by developers and researchers working on SSRR applications. The Rescue Robotics Exercise will be held at ISA and opened to the co-located SSRR Workshop partecipants. Specifically, prior to the start of technical sessions, attendees will be able to watch emergency responders conduct technology readiness level assessments of applicable robots in search training scenarios and the results of the Camp will be also demonstrated.

  • Rescue Robotics Camp 2007   Event - Rescue Robotics Camp    September 22, 2007 - Istituto Superiore Antincendi - Via del Commercio, 13 - ROMA - Italy
    Contact Information: Daniele Nardi (Daniele dot Nardi at dis dot uniroma1 dot it)
Background
  • URL:http://www.engr.du.edu/ssrr2009
  • Founding Date: February 1, 2002
  • Member Count: 105
  • Fall 2010 Committee Chairs:
    • Nardi, Daniele (nardi at dis dot uniroma1 dot it)
      • Univ. Roma "La Sapienza", Dip. Informatica e Sistemistica
    • Matsuno, Fumitoshi (matsuno at hi dot mce dot uec dot ac dot jp)
      • The University of Electro-Communications
      • corresponding chair - send email to join committee
    • Voyles, Richard (rvoyles at du dot edu)
      • University of Denver
      • corresponding chair - send email to join committee
    • Tsukagoshi, Hideyuki (htsuka at cm dot ctrl dot titech dot ac dot jp)
      • Tokyo Institute of Technology
      • corresponding chair - send email to join committee
  • Committee Chairs Emeritus:
    • Tadokoro, Satoshi (tadokoro at rm dot is dot tohoku dot ac dot jp)
      • Tohoku University
    • Murphy, Robin (murphy at csee dot usf dot edu)
      • University of South Florida
    • Nardi, Daniele (daniele dot nardi at dis dot uniroma1 dot it)
      • Sapienza Univ. Roma, Italy
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