Carnegie Mellon University

History

2024: Drone development investigated by disaster sites

On July 30, 2024, American researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute announced the development of a system that allows drones to survey disaster and disaster sites. At the same time, several unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) act as part of a group, exchanging information with each other.

It is noted that during emergencies, for example, earthquakes, buildings collapse and power line breaks occur. For first responders, assessing the scene and focusing rescue efforts can be very risky. In such conditions, drones that use special algorithms to find survivors can come to the rescue.

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cmu.edu

The key principle behind the new platform is the elimination of duplication in the survey of the disaster site. Drones are focused on rapid detection of premises in the building: for this, readings from the onboard lidar, which is configured to identify doorways, are analyzed. Researchers say that in the event of an emergency, people are more likely to be in rooms, and not in corridors. In the process, each drone studies certain premises, forming a map of space. This information is shared with other members of the group, so they avoid already verified rooms. As a result, efficiency is increased and the time spent on surveying the building is reduced.

The project participants chose lidars instead of cameras for two main reasons. Firstly, such sensors require less computing power, and therefore, energy costs are reduced. Second, conditions inside a collapsed building or at a disaster site can be dusty or smoky, making it difficult for traditional cameras to see.^[1]

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