UGVs and UAS Used to Inspect Churches in Italy Devastated by Earthquakes
Recently, unmanned technologies were used to assist in the relief efforts in Amatrice, Italy, after a massive earthquake hit that town and surrounding ones last month. The TRADR (Long-Term Human-Robot Teaming for Robot-Assisted Disaster Response) project is providing the technologies that helped inspect two badly damaged churches, the San Francesco and Sant`Agostino.
Using two UGVs and three UAS, the TRADR project was able to create 3-D textured models of the churches. Both buildings were in a state of partial collapse, so the technologies were used to help the process of shoring operations and seeing the conditions of valuable objects within the churches. The UGVs traveled inside of the churches, while the UAS provided coverage from both inside and outside of the churches.
According to people involved, the use of the technologies was very successful. They provided enough data to construct the 3-D textured models, and that information will be given to the Italian Vigili del Fuoco and the Italian Ministry of Culture. The TRADR project was also able to deploy the technologies to the town within 48 hours of receiving the request for help.
