Robotics Applications in Natural Hazards

Abstract

Natural hazards not only have great contribution to fatality but also economic loss. Although government has proposed well developed polices to rapidly handle emergencies and systematically organized recovery actions, failures of emergency relief, such as ineffective rescue, can significantly increase the post-hazard death rate. With the advance of artificial intelligence, the use of robots for disaster management applications is a new trend in managing and accessing natural disasters. Disaster response robotics is capable of assisting and replacing rescue teams working in dangerous scenarios, which not only alleviates labor-intensity but also reduces the potential risks associated with rescue personnel. Research on construction automation has advanced, but extensive development is required to reach fully autonomous construction in disaster management and post-disaster recovery. Instead, human robotics collaboration is promising and able to effectively alleviate the knowledge deficit and confusion. In the article, different functions of disaster response robotics are introduced, and technical challenges and future improvements are described.