FUMA : Platform Development and System Integration for Rescue Missions

Human rescuers who carry out urban search and rescue (USAR) missions, frequently enter dangerous zones to search for survivors. In these zones, rescuer's life may be threatened. For this reason, rescue robots are expected to become useful work partner for urban search and rescue missions. This paper presents platform design and system integration of FUMA, which is a wheeled rescue robot with a 1-DOF arm for environment information gathering. Using this arm, FUMA can climb over high obstacles. Human rescuers can operate FUMA at a safe distance while the missions are carry out. To teleoperate robot system efficiently, the key is the interface between the robot system and the operator. We focus attention on understanding the environment of the disaster site, understanding the states of victims and advancement of operability. This paper will present mechanical development and system integrations of FUMA for rescue missions.