Cooperative task excecution of a search and rescue mission by a multi-robot team

Rescue robots have proved to be an extremely useful work partner for urban search and rescue (USAR) missions. Human rescuers who carry out these missions frequently enter dangerous zones to search for survivors; however, due to the unstable nature of collapsed buildings or objects, their lives may also be threatened. For this reason, in order to reduce life-threatening risks, rescue robots are deployed to carry out the job instead. Rescuers can now operate the robots at a safe place while the missions are carried out. When the robots have gathered enough information about the location of the victims and data about their physical conditions, rescuers can then enter the disaster site with enough knowledge to avoid harm and rescue the victims in the shortest time possible. In this paper, we introduce examples of 'effective multiple robot cooperative activities' and 'a study of the number of robots and operators in a multi-robot team' from our experiences gained from participating in RoboCup Rescue competitions.