Human-Robot Triage Communication System; Factors in Robot Technology and Emergency Response Infrastructure Hindering Widespread Robot Use

In emergency scenarios, human resources are limited, time is critical, and areas can be difficult or dangerous for humans to survey. Furthermore, robots are not currently an essential part of EMS or SAR infrastructure. In my senior technical and STS projects, I worked on this topic from both an electrical engineering standpoint, as well as an STS (science, technology, and society) standpoint. On the technical side, my project goal was to develop a robot communications system for applications in SAR and EMS. However, despite these ideas, currently, robots are not a standard piece of equipment in SAR and EMS. In my STS research paper, I aimed to address how current limitations in robot technology impact widespread integration in emergency medical response groups. Thus, my engineering capstone involved developing a novel robot system implementable for EMS and SAR, and my STS report analyzed limitations in technology and emergency infrastructure and how these hinder robot usage in EMS.

We were motivated by the idea that developing a communication system for robots to wirelessly communicate environmental and patient information between them and responders allows response teams to allocate their time more effectively and enhance responder safety. We worked with Dr. Nicola Bezzo’s lab in the Systems Engineering department at UVA to develop a wireless communication system to enable communication between exploratory robots implemented in SAR and EMS scenarios. We developed a ZigBee-based (a low-power wireless mesh network microcontroller) communication system that allows robots to efficiently transmit and receive key data such as the location and priority of discovered objects and patients. Our software team wrote Python programs to analyze data from the robots, wirelessly communicate relevant information, and update objectives based on incoming data. A ZigBee-based microcontroller was integrated with a printed circuit board (PCB), designed by our hardware team, to power the communication system and convert data transmission between USB and Universal Asynchronous Transmitter/Receiver (UART). Additionally, we designed and implemented an algorithm to enable robots to navigate toward goals while avoiding obstacles.We also purchased a temperature and volatile organic compound sensor and connected and tested it with our fully developed system to ensure its functionality. Verifying the functionality of this full system prototype provides support to the idea that this concept works in practice and can be further developed in more advanced iterations to expand functionality and ease of use for consumers.

There are multiple different types of robots able to be implemented in EMS and SAR, each with different capabilities and applications. I focused on general rescue robot technology. Rescue robots can provide medical supplies to a remote site, scope out danger zones on the ground and in difficult-to-access areas, or even potentially provide temporary consultations, diagnoses, or treatment for victims. Robots were first deployed in the US during 9/11 to search for victims, paths through rubble, and hazardous materials. However, since, robots have mostly been confined to research laboratories, with few exceptions. For my STS research, I aimed to understand how people, technology, and environment interact in the context of emergency response and search and rescue to understand why robot technology is not currently widely used in emergency applications. With rapidly developing technology and research related to robots, robot technology seems more poised than ever to break into the emergency services space with the vast capabilities beyond human possibilities. However, due to factors such as funding, error-prone technology, and age demographic of volunteers, robot technology is not widespread in this field.

In terms of our technical project, my groups reached all the goals we were required to on paper. I also reached the main goals for the final paper. However, there is definitely scope for the future in further developing this technical and STS research. In the technical area, there is still work to be done regarding the development of easily and cheaply incorporating robot technology into emergency response. In STS, there is much to analyze regarding human attitude and trust towards robots and technology and how that hinders widespread robot applications in EMS and SAR.

School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering
Technical Advisor: Adam Barnes
STS Advisor: Kent Wayland
Technical Team Members: Kailey Brown, Amelia Nist, Leila Troxell