  This paper describes a novel semi-autonomous mobile robot system designed to
assist search and rescue (SAR) first responders in disaster scenarios. While
robots offer significant potential in SAR missions, current solutions are
limited in their ability to handle a diverse range of tasks. This gap is
addressed by presenting a system capable of (1) autonomous navigation and
mapping, allowing the robot to autonomously explore and map areas affected by
catastrophic events, (2) radiation mapping, enabling the system to triangulate
a radiation map from discrete radiation measurements to aid in identifying
hazardous areas, (3) semi-autonomous substance sampling, allowing the robot to
collect samples of suspicious substances and analyze them onboard with
immediate classification, and (4) valve manipulation, enabling teleoperated
closing of valves that control hazardous material flow. This semi-autonomous
approach balances human control over critical tasks like substance sampling
with efficient robot navigation in low-risk areas. The system is evaluated
during three trials that simulate possible disaster scenarios, two of which
have been recorded during the European Robotics Hackathon (EnRicH).
Furthermore, we provide recorded sensor data as well as the implemented
software system as supplemental material through a GitHub repository:
https://github.com/TW-Robotics/search-and-rescue-robot-IROS2024.
