IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2015 - 177

will be open to discuss further issues
with the appropriate bodies and organizations to derive actions that need to
be taken. The committee will also
serve as an advisory body to local,
national, and international groups and
governments.
The recent evolution of a wide variety of robotics and component technologies is rapidly enhancing their
capabilities. For example, unmanned
aerial vehicles quickly surveyed wide disaster areas, remotely operated underwater vehicles to repair leakage of
subsea oil plants, while unmanned
ground vehicles worked in contaminated areas of damaged nuclear power
plants. Twenty years ago, unmanned
aerial vehicles could only gather information from sky. At present, unmanned
aerial vehicles can approach structures
of interest in the neighborhoods to provide detailed visual inspections for
maintenance. They can also enter damaged buildings through narrow entrances to search for victims. The autonomy
and intelligence of unmanned ground
vehicles can reduce responders' loads
and integrate gathered information with
measured three-dimensional information into GIS. For this reason, specialists
predict that robotics will become an essential tool for preparedness, response,

and recovery in ten years. The implementation of robotics with information
and communications technology is
needed to support the Post- 2015
Framework of Action by enriching the
global risk awareness with local information in detail.
The contribution of robotics is
mainly: 1) to gather information and
perform tasks that humans and conventional equipment cannot (e.g.,
search and rescue in inaccessible places
and the inspection in highly contaminated areas), 2) to reduce risks (e.g.,
substitute workers to avoid potential
damage from explosions, toxic agents,
and radiation), and 3) to reduce time
and cost (e.g., quick surveillance of
potentially damaged facilities and high
places without scaffolds).
Records of robot applications to
disasters from the last decade show gaps
that have be filled to fully utilize of
robotic solutions. The following issues
must also be discussed and solved.
Technologies need more improvement and development for required
tasks at disaster sites with higher technology readiness levels. Particularly,
performance of mobility, stationary,
sensing, recognition, remote situation
awareness, wired and wireless communication, human interface, intelligent

autonomy, task execution performance,
and compliance under/with disaster
conditions and environments including
explosions have to be sufficient in the
systems using robots, humans, and
organizations. The international collaboration of academic societies, research
centers, universities, test facilities, robot
solution contests, and robot training
curriculums have to be promoted to
make them ready.
Second, social barriers to deployment and application of robots have to
be lowered. Regulations and systems
have to be adjusted for this new innovation, particularly for disaster countermeasures, road traffic, maintenance of
infrastructure and industrial facilities,
performance test methods for procurement, and insurance for predicted risks
with Good Samaritan laws. Safety standards, wireless frequency allocation, and
component interfaces have to be common and standardized internationally
for the exchangeability and reusability of
systems to foster smooth international
cooperation in megascale disasters.
The united efforts of all the relevant
stakeholders in the newly established
international committee will resolve the
technical and social issues to fill gaps for
the full use of this new technology in
the future.

Innovations in Robotics Panel at the
2015 WIE International Leadership Conference
By Laura Margheri

T

he IEEE Women in Engineering
(WIE) International Leadership
Conference (WIE-ILC) is the
flagship and largest event organized by the IEEE WIE. On 23-25 April
2015, the second WIE-ILC took place in

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2015.2452131
Date of publication: 11 September 2015

Silicon Valley, San Jose, California, with
the theme "Lead Beyond. Accelerating
Innovative Women Who Change The
World." The focus of the conference was
on leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship, with four tracks:
1) innovation (skills to create a new
technology, lead innovative teams,
foster creative cultures, or develop
disruptive technology)

2) empowerment (skills to help women
advance in their careers)
3) entrepreneurship (skills around startups, business models, venture funding,
finance, or leadership communication)
4) executive leadership (skills for team
leadership, career management, and
advancement).
More than 700 attendees joined the event,
with an exciting program, including nine

September 2015

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IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

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