Research will be done at Augsburg College in coordination with the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Safety, Security and Rescue Research jointly established by the University of Minnesota and the University of South Florida. The center is focusing on leading-edge research in homeland security and emergency response. The project addresses a number of open issues pertaining to search and rescue robot teams working in "destroyed structures". Whether destruction is due to a natural phenomenon such as an earthquake or a terrorist attack, a similar environment results, with structural properties such as flat walls and floors positioned at skewed angles, obstacles where there are usually are none, and doorways taking on a new definition as anything large enough to squeeze through. The goal is to exploit robot communication in such a way that multiple behaviors augment rather than detract from each other.
