AUTHOR=Moosavi Syed Kumayl Raza , Zafar Muhammad Hamza , Sanfilippo Filippo TITLE=Collaborative robots (cobots) for disaster risk resilience: a framework for swarm of snake robots in delivering first aid in emergency situations JOURNAL=Frontiers in Robotics and AI VOLUME=11 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2024.1362294 DOI=10.3389/frobt.2024.1362294 ISSN=2296-9144 ABSTRACT=

Cobots are robots that are built for human-robot collaboration (HRC) in a shared environment. In the aftermath of disasters, cobots can cooperate with humans to mitigate risks and increase the possibility of rescuing people in distress. This study examines the resilient and dynamic synergy between a swarm of snake robots, first responders and people to be rescued. The possibility of delivering first aid to potential victims dispersed around a disaster environment is implemented. In the HRC simulation framework presented in this study, the first responder initially deploys a UAV, swarm of snake robots and emergency items. The UAV provides the first responder with the site planimetry, which includes the layout of the area, as well as the precise locations of the individuals in need of rescue and the aiding goods to be delivered. Each individual snake robot in the swarm is then assigned a victim. Subsequently an optimal path is determined by each snake robot using the A* algorithm, to approach and reach its respective target while avoiding obstacles. By using their prehensile capabilities, each snake robot adeptly grasps the aiding object to be dispatched. The snake robots successively arrive at the delivering location near the victim, following their optimal paths, and proceed to release the items. To demonstrate the potential of the framework, several case studies are outlined concerning the execution of operations that combine locomotion, obstacle avoidance, grasping and deploying. The Coppelia-Sim Robotic Simulator is utilised for this framework. The analysis of the motion of the snake robots on the path show highly accurate movement with and without the emergency item. This study is a step towards a holistic semi-autonomous search and rescue operation.