The Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) received the Emergency Management Association of Texas (EMAT) Emergency Management Technology and Innovation Award at the 11th annual EMAT Leadership Symposium last week.
CRASAR received the award for the 100-plus flights they conducted with their Small Unmanned Aircraft System during Hurricane Harvey. The award is presented to local or regional-level emergency management programs in Texas that developed and implemented a technology product, project or innovation in Texas during the previous calendar year (2017) that was developed at the local or regional level; was successfully implemented and tested during an exercise, special event or emergency circumstance; and can be replicated at little or no cost by other local or regional programs.
Dr. Robin Murphy, Raytheon Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, director of the Humanitarian Robotics and AI Laboratory and vice president of CRASAR, said she was pleased with the award.
“To be recognized by emergency professionals is so rewarding. We believe that helping them use and adopt the technology they need will transform disaster response,” Murphy said. “In a year with major flooding and then Hurricane Harvey with so many agencies are responding, it is amazing to be singled out for an award."
The purpose of the EMAT Annual Awards Program is to recognize the achievements and hard work of the individuals, organizations and jurisdictions that have made exceptional efforts to further the field of emergency management and to ensure a whole community approach to preventing, preparing for, mitigating against, responding to and recovering from disasters.
CRASAR serves as crisis response and research organization that strives to direct and exploit new technology development in robotics and unmanned systems for humanitarian purposes worldwide. CRASAR’s mission is to serve existing rescue organizations by providing deployable robot-assisted search and rescue teams while fostering research into SAR-specific robot systems and educating the public.
Murphy is an IEEE Fellow, a TED speaker and a founder of Roboticists Without Borders. She has worked in disaster robotics research and deployment since 1995, and has deployed ground, air and marine robots in disasters worldwide.