How has Robot Technology improved emergency response and will this Research Paper

How has Robot Technology improved emergency response and will this technology impacts the future of search and rescue - Research Paper Example This paper will describe how robot technology has improved emergency response capabilities and how this technology will influence the future of emergency management, as well as search and rescue operations. In the modern world there is an imminent need for humanitarian operations ranging from small disasters to humanitarian tragedies. Some of these emergencies can be classified as natural disasters while others are human made or human induced. The typical emergency situation can also be a combination of any three of the elements listed above. In such situations, the general approach is to utilise search and rescue (SAR) teams and systems. It has to be kept in mind that the budgets being spent on emergency relief efforts especially for search and rescue efforts is increasing manifold every year. For example, the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) spent some 958.7 million Swiss Francs in the year 2005 while it registered a 16% increase in its overall budget since 2000. This is comparable to the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) who saw a budgetary increase of 13% between the years 2000 and 2004 (Ko & Lau, 2009). With these budgetary increases it must also be seen that most sea rch and rescue efforts feature human beings trying to resolve situations that may be out of their control. With the rapid advances in technology especially robotics, it is ironic that most search and rescue operations still feature dogs on leashes guiding human handlers to save lives. The very nature of emergency response is precarious to say the least. The advances in technology have been unable to feature heavily in these scenarios except for the isolated use of positioning systems, communication systems and camera mounted probing systems. The dangerous nature of these operations requires scapegoats that can tread not only further but also faster into emergency areas. It has been suggested that the