SO7: Employing autonomous vehicles, as units or in swarms, for risk identification and physical mitigation

FASTER will employ diverse autonomous vehicles aiming to generate 2D/3D mapping of the environment, improve situational awareness and enable physical mitigation on the field. A robotic vehicle will be developed that will act both as an independent node integrating multiple sensors and a robotic arm if required, but also as a platform for communication and collaboration with other autonomous vehicles. In FASTER, heavy-load drones, operating for extended flight times, will facilitate multiple roles including mapping the disaster scene, extending communication capabilities as relay nodes and performing physical duties such as rapidly delivering first aid and resources to inaccessible areas, removing obstacles or fighting fires. Autonomous swarms of drones will be developed, able to self-organise and collaborate to achieve complex operations. Additionally, commercial mini drones will be used as equipment for individual first responders to inspect inaccessible or dangerous areas.