U.S. flag
        An official website of the United States government
          Here’s how you know
        Here’s how you know**Official websites use .gov**
              
              A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
        **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
              
              A **lock** (  A locked padlock
) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/emergency-response-robots
  Search NIST
    Search
              Menu

      


Close
    Topics
        All Topics
                                                        Advanced communications
                                                        Artificial intelligence
                                                        Bioscience
                                                        Buildings and construction
                                                        Chemistry
                                                        Climate
                                                        Cybersecurity
                                                        Electronics
                                                        EnergyEnvironment
                                                        Fire
                                                        Forensic science
                                                        Health
                                                        Information technology
                                                        Infrastructure
                                                        Manufacturing
                                                        Materials
                                                        Mathematics and statisticsMetrology
                                                        Nanotechnology
                                                        Neutron research
                                                        Performance excellence
                                                        Physics
                                                        Public safety
                                                        Resilience
                                                        Standards
                                                        Transportation
            Publications
            Labs & Major Programs
        Laboratories
                                Communications Technology Laboratory
                                  Engineering Laboratory
                                  Information Technology Laboratory
                                  Material Measurement Laboratory
                                  Physical Measurement LaboratoryUser Facilities
                                NIST Center for Neutron Research
                                  CNST NanoFab
                                                        Research Test Beds
                                                        Research Projects
                                                        Tools & InstrumentsMajor Programs
                                Baldrige Performance Excellence Program
                                  CHIPS for America Initiative
                                  Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)
                                  Office of Advanced Manufacturing
                                  Special Programs Office
                                  Technology Partnerships Office
            Services & Resources
        Standards and Measurements
                                Calibration Services
                                  Laboratory Accreditation (NVLAP)
                                  Quality System
                                  Standard Reference Materials (SRMs)
                                  Standards.gov
                                  Time Services
                                  Office of Weights and MeasuresSoftware
                                                        Data
                                Chemistry WebBook
                                  National Vulnerability Database
                                  Physical Reference Data
                                  Standard Reference Data (SRD)
                                                        Storefront
                                                        License & PatentsComputer Security Resource Center (CSRC)
                                                        NIST Research Library
            News & Events
        News
                                                        Events
                                                        Blogs
                                                        Feature Stories
                                                        AwardsVideo Gallery
                                                        Image Gallery
                                                        Media Contacts
            About NIST
        About Us
                                Leadership
                                  Organization Structure
                                  Budget & Planning
                                                        Contact Us
                                                        Visit
                                                        Careers
                                Student programsWork with NIST
                                                        History
                                NIST Digital Archives
                                  NIST Museum
                                  NIST and the Nobel
                                                        Educational Resources
 
 PROJECTS/PROGRAMS

Emergency Response Robots

Share
  Facebook
                      Linkedin
                      Twitter
                      Email
    
  Summary
        Emergency responders risk life and limb interacting with known hazards to protect the public, rescue potential victims, and enhance the resilience of communities. Firefighters, bomb technicians, and urban search and rescue specialists typically wear only conventional personal protective equipment while dealing with a variety of extreme hazards for which remotely operated robots should be well suited. Examples include establishing situational awareness around large structure fires; disabling or dismantling improvised explosive devices (pipes, packages, vehicles); searching for survivors in collapsed or compromised structures; assessing large scale industrial or transportation accidents; or mitigating potential terror attacks using chemical, biological, or radiological sources. Responders say they want to “start remote and stay remote” when dealing with such hazards and need capable robotic systems that can be remotely operated from safe standoff distances. Many emergency response organizations already own robots but have had difficulty deploying them effectively. New ground, aerial, and aquatic robots are promising advanced capabilities but it is hard to sift through the marketing. Emergency responders need quantitative ways to measure whether a particular robot is capable and reliable enough to perform specific mission tasks. They also need ways to train and measure operator proficiency to improve very perishable operator skills.

This project will develop the measurement science and standards infrastructure necessary to evaluate the capabilities of remotely operated robotic systems, including autonomous functionalities and operator proficiency. The results of this research will help guide robot manufacturers toward developing advanced capabilities, quicken their evolution from innovation to deployment, and improve reliability. It will also support development of robot performance standards for federal, state, and local emergency responders, enabling safer and more effective tactics to strengthen the resilience of communities while reducing fatalities, injuries, and property loss.

Description
      
      **Objective -** Advance the capabilities of remotely operated emergency response robots by developing the measurement and standards infrastructure necessary to quantitatively evaluate system capabilities.

**What is the new technical idea?**Emergency responders need quantitative ways to measure whether a particular robot is capable and reliable enough to perform specific missions. These missions decompose into sets of elemental robot tasks that can be represented individually as standard test methods. Categories of elemental robot tasks include maneuvering, mobility, dexterity, sensing, endurance, radio communication, durability, reliability, autonomy, logistics, and safety. Each standard test method enables repeatable testing to establish statistically significant levels of reliability and confidence that the robot can perform the task. Standard test methods essentially define the test apparatuses, procedures, and performance metrics so they can be fabricated and practiced by robot manufacturers and user groups alike. They provide a tangible language to communicate responder requirements and demonstrate robot capabilities. The apparatuses typically include increasingly challenging settings to determine the maximum capability of the robot in a given task. Examples include stair inclines of 30°, 35°, 40°, 45°. Variables are controlled initially to measure baseline performance. They are then introduced incrementally to determine the effect. Examples of variables include lighted environments (<300 lux) versus dark environments (< 0.1 lux) or dry apparatuses versus wet apparatuses. A combination of 20-30 different standard test methods can be selected with appropriate apparatus settings and environmental variables to define a particular mission profile. Repeated testing within this set of standards establishes confidence that the robot can perform the overall mission.

The project results will help inform purchasing and deployment decisions and enable specification of available combinations of robotic capabilities demonstrated to statistical significance within a set of standard test methods that represent a potential user's mission tasks. This will align emergency responder expectations prior to purchasing by fully informing them about what the robot can and cannot be expected to do in the field.

The project deliverables will help foster innovation as robot manufacturers use the standard test methods to guide research, measure progress, and make engineering decisions regarding new sensors, coordinated manipulators, autonomous behaviors, etc. This will quicken the evolution of advanced robotic capabilities toward field deployment and improve reliability. Project deliverables will also help emergency responders improve and sustain very perishable operator skills. These standards provide inherent measures of operator proficiency that can focus training and track progress. When these standards are adopted widely for training, they can begin to isolate and measure deficiencies in equipment, including operator interfaces, and help identify technology gaps.

**What is the research plan?**The research plan includes three phases of development for particular mission tasks:

Generate and validate a comprehensive suite of standard test methods to quantify component level and system level capabilities.
	Foster innovation in robotics research and manufacturing by using the standards to guide and measure advancements in robotic system capabilities using new sensors, coordinated manipulators, autonomous behaviors, etc.
	Apply the standards to support responder training and tactics with measures of operator proficiency.During the first phase, we generate and validate a series of elemental test methods to characterize robot capabilities for specific missions defined by responder organizations. Elemental test methods typically include some combination of maneuvering, mobility, dexterity, sensing, endurance, radio communication, durability, reliability, autonomy, logistics, and safety for remotely operated ground systems, small aquatic systems, and small aerial systems under 2 kg (4.4 lbs). For example, a set of standard test methods will be generated to perform missions around a burning structure to establish situational awareness, identify hazardous materials, and locate potential victims. Another set of standard test methods will include manipulator reach, strength, and dexterity to measure potential fire service robots' ability to open doors, turn valves, manipulate hose line connections, and retrieve objects. Many of the same standard test methods also apply to improvised explosive devices and other hazardous materials, and visa versa. Any given mission can provide the initial impetus to generate and validate a set of tests. The resulting standard test methods often apply to other responder missions as well.

These test methods are being standardized through the ASTM International Standards Committee on Homeland Security Applications; Operational Equipment; Robots (E54.08.01) which includes equal representation of robot manufacturers, emergency responders, and civilian/military test administrators. They are agreed upon ways to measure individual capabilities without identifying what level of performance is required by a particular user community for a given mission task. That is, they are not equipment standards that typically define the necessary outcomes of testing to meet a defined "standard." Any emergency responder organization can reference these standard test methods to specify their mission-oriented equipment or training objectives. They simply need to set thresholds within each applicable standard test method to clearly articulate their mission expectations. Operational mission descriptions specified using combinations of 20-30 standard test methods provide clear guidance to robot manufacturers. They also provide clear guidance to trainees by providing targeted levels of proficiency considered necessary by their responder organizations to be effective during deployments.

Major Accomplishments
      
                          Realized Impact

Adopted 30 standard and draft standard test methods by the Joint Program Office for Countering Improvised Explosive Devices (DHS, FBI, ATF, ARMY) at 4 training exercises across the U.S.
	Adopted 8 standard and draft standard test methods by the DARPA Robotics Challenge for Disaster Response to evaluate robotic capabilities worldwide for their $100M development program focused on the Fukushima, Japan nuclear plant disaster.
	Received Award of Merit from the ASTM International for "Outstanding Contributions and Leadership Resulting in Development of a Comprehensive Suite of Standard Test Methods to Evaluate and Improve Robot Capabilities for Homeland Security Applications.
	Received Edward Bennett Rosa Award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce, for "Outstanding Contributions to the Development of ASTM International Standard Test Methods to Advance Emergency Response Robots."
  Manufacturing, Robotics in manufacturing and Response robots
      
            Organizations
      
      NIST HeadquartersLaboratory ProgramsEngineering LaboratoryIntelligent Systems DivisionManipulation and Mobility Systems Group

NIST Staff
      
                  Adam S. Jacoff
                                        Ann Virts
Contact
      
      

Ann Virts
    
      
  ann.virts@nist.gov
  (301) 975-5068

  Adam S. Jacoff
    
      
  adam.jacoff@nist.gov
  (301) 975-4235

Project Status
      
                          Ongoing
  Related NIST Projects
      
                  Fire Risk Reduction in Communities Program
                                        Ember Exposure Characterization in WUI Fires
                                        Fire Research Grants and Cooperative Agreements
                                        High Temperature Performance of Fire Fighter Equipment
                                        Reduced Ignition of Building Components in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires
                                        Smart Fire Fighting
                                        Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fire Data Collection on Parcel Vulnerabilities
                                        Department of Homeland Security Response Robot Performance Standards

    
    Created April 28, 2014, Updated December 21, 2020
 HEADQUARTERS
            100 Bureau Drive
              Gaithersburg, MD 20899301-975-2000
            Webmaster | Contact Us | Our Other Offices
        Twitter
            
Facebook
            
LinkedIn
            
Instagram
            
YouTube
            
Giphy
            
RSS Feed
            
Mailing List
                              How are we doing? Feedback

  
  Site Privacy
                      Accessibility
                      Privacy Program
                      Copyrights
                      Vulnerability Disclosure
                      No Fear Act Policy
                      FOIA
                      Environmental Policy
                      Scientific Integrity
                      Information Quality Standards
                      Commerce.gov
                      Science.gov
                      USA.gov
                      Vote.gov