The RoboCup-Rescue: an IT challenge to emergency response problem in disaster

RoboCup-Rescue is an international cooperative research project that IT, AI and robotics challenge to solve a universal social problem, search and rescue at emergency disasters. This paper describes this project from the viewpoint of technological challenge. It also presents RoboCup-Rescue Simulation Project where a prototype has been released attracting researchers worldwide. This project is open to the public and calling participation of researchers and research groups.