Activities

a.The IEEE International Symposium on SSRR is held annually and encompasses the design and implementation of robotics, automation, intelligent machines, systems and devices that can contribute to civilian safety. Applications include search and rescue, rapid screening of travelers and cargo, hazardous material handling, humanitarian demining, fire fighting, law enforcement detection of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosive risks and response to natural disasters. While this symposium is conceptually centered on a set of application domains, the focus is on quality research and fundamental principles that lead to useful robots and automation in all domains. The symposium has continuously grown over the last four years. Table 1 presents an overview of the statistics related to the meeting. A unique aspect of this meeting is the ability for researchers to demonstrate their technology at test sites co-located with the symposium.

• SSRR 2013 – Date: Oct 21-26, Location: Linkoping, Sweden,  General Chair:Alexander Kleiner , 2013.
• SSRR 2012– Date: Nov 5-8, Location: College Station TX, General Chair: Robin Murphy, Submitted Papers: 61, Accepted Papers: 43, Tutorials:2, Invited Talks: 4, Panels: 1, Paricipants: 96, 2012.
• SSRR 2011– Date: Nov 1-5, Location: Kyoto Japan, General Chair:Fumitoshi Matsuno, Submitted Papers:80, Accepted Papers: 59, Tutorials:2, Invited Talks: 7, Panels: 1, Paricipants: 84, 2011.
• SSRR 2010– Date: July 26-30, Location:Bremem Germany, General Chair:Andreas Birk, Submitted Papers:46, Accepted Papers: 29, Tutorials:0, Invited Talks: 3, Panels: 0, Paricipants: 31, 2010.
• SSRR 2009 – Date: Nov 3-5, Location: Denver CO, General Chair:Richard Voiles, Submitted Papers:42, Accepted Papers: 30, Tutorials:0, Invited Talks: 4, Panels: 0, Paricipants: 47, 2009.

b. Robots and Sensors integration in future rescue INformation system (ROSIN’10), Workshop Oct 18, 2010, IROS 2010 organized by FumitoshiMatsuno. Seven presentations and twenty-six attendees.

c. Robotics for Disaster Response Workshop    May 13, 2009 – ICRA 2009 organized by Satoshi Tadokoro. 50 attendees.

1. Advanced RoboticsSpecial Issue Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics.FumitoshiMatsuno, Itsuki Noda, Robin Murphy and Andreas Birk (Eds.), 2013
2. Journal of Field Robotics Special Issue Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics.Andreas Birk and FumitoshiMatsuno (Eds.)., 28 (6), Wiley, 2011
3. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic SystemsSpecial Issue Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics. Richard Voyles and Julie Adams, 64, 1, 2011.
4. Journal of Field Robotics on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics Special Issue Safety,Security, and Rescue Robotics. Richard Voyles and Howie Choset, 25,1-2, 2008

• Rescue Robotics Exercises: Rescue Robotics Exercises, which bring together researchers and responders in field exercises to test equipment, strategies and techniques in a mutually supportive environment that provides real stressors and environmental conditions. The exercises have grown to include field trials at real disasters, such as hurricanes Katrina and Ike, mudslides and building collapses in the United States and Europe, mine collapses, and now, the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan.The IEEE RAS funded Safety Security and Rescue Robotics summer school this fall:http://wiki.ssrrsummerschool.org (10-14 September 2012, Alanya, Turkey)
• The 2007 Rescue Robotics Exercise was organized by Daniele Nardi and held September 26, 2007 at the Instituto Superiore Antincendi – Via del Commercio, 13 – ROMA – Italy.

• 2012 IEEE Robotics and Automation Most Active Technical Committee Award was presented. (17^th. May 2012)