Dr. Robin Murphy, Raytheon Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, and her robotic unmanned aerial vehicles will be featured on CNN in a special about the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina that is scheduled to air in late August.
Murphy, director of the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR), develops and deploys robots to assist responders during disasters. Her research focuses on applying artificial intelligence to emergency informatics.
When there is a disaster, robots from CRASAR and its Roboticists Without Borders program are used to collect critical data and information that a human could not collect because of safety or cost constraints. The data is used to help with disaster response and recovery.
“Through this technology, we are providing images to key decision makers,” Murphy said. “They get the data in real-time and at higher resolutions than satellites can produce. This allows for 3D reconstructions of the disaster area to be produced days faster than traditional methods.”
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina warranted the first use of small UAVs during a disaster. Murphy’s UAVs were used to gather information and provide imagery to key decision makers allowing for a quicker recovery time. In the 10 years since Hurricane Katrina, advancements in aerial, ground, and marine robotics have allowed Murphy and her team to use robots at 19 disasters across the world. These advancements and how they affect disaster response and recovery today will be featured in the CNN special.