The University of Colorado Boulder’s Ann and HJ Smead Engineering Sciences Department is working with the Boulder Emergency Squad to evaluate the use of AI-powered drones in search and rescue operations.
The research allows rescuers to pass information to drones, which can then independently help teams scout locations or find individuals.
Hunter Ray, a doctoral student in aerospace engineering at CU Boulder who is also a volunteer rescuer with the Boulder Emergency Squad, is assisting with the upcoming research and expressing the positive impact it can have on today’s public safety.
“When it comes to using drones, we have been using them in the team since 2016, so we know very well how to implement them during operations, but when we have one drone in the field we often have two or three people to manage the plane; controlling it, keeping it charged, and coordinating its operation with the rest of the incident and returning that information to anyone who needs it.
Boulder Emergency Squad, “the Swiss army knife of law enforcement,” as Ray put it, is a nonprofit volunteer technical search and rescue team serving Boulder County and funded primarily by the sheriff’s office.
Ray stated that there are a lot of moving parts during search and rescue missions, and delegating tasks to the AI-enabled drones could free up some hands.
“It’s kind of like delegating responsibility to the aircraft itself, and then the user can charge the batteries, collaborate on the radio, and deal with higher level steps,” Ray said.
According to Ray, it can sometimes be difficult to operate the controls while concentrating on finding a person.
“So what this new project does is take our operators’ decision-making a little bit to the next level, so instead of giving that low level, go here, go forward, you say (to the drone) here’s the mission if whole, this is what is important for the environment, go take a look and tell me what you find.”
Ray clarified that there will always be a person at the center of the system and that the intention of the project is not to replace the user.
“There is a misconception around autonomy… Just as there is no autonomous firefighter or police officer, there will be no fully autonomous system. So it has to be able to work together and with people in public safety, especially in these kinds of dynamic and uncertain environments,” Ray said.
Chief Andy Amalfitano of the Boulder Emergency Squad believes that implementing this technology will not only help save lives, but also reduce the time spent searching for people.
“When you say ‘we save lives’ it always sounds dramatic. But in our case, saving a life is looking for someone and finding them before they get to a point where they’re not going to make it, right?” said Amalfitano. “So maybe we’re not actually saving their lives at that moment, but we’re limiting the damage by finding them sooner. “
Nisar Ahmed, associate professor at CU Aerospace, is excited about the implementation of the project’s prospects and what it could mean for future public safety.
“People like Hunter, who are actually doing the work, are valuable to us as researchers… because we can find other ways to use the same technology in other domains.” Ahmed said. “It’s quite exciting that it’s actually up in the air.”