TY - JOUR A1 - Surmann, Hartmut A1 - Daun, Kevin A1 - Schnaubelt, Marius A1 - von Stryk, Oskar A1 - Patchou, Manuel A1 - Böcker, Stefan A1 - Wietfeld, Christian A1 - Quenzel, Jan A1 - Schleich, Daniel A1 - Behnke, Sven A1 - Grafe, Robert A1 - Heidemann, Nils A1 - Slomma, Dominik A1 - Kruijff-Korbayová, Ivana T1 - Lessons from robot‐assisted disaster response deployments by the German Rescue Robotics Center task force JF - Journal of Field Robotics N2 - Earthquakes, fire, and floods often cause structural collapses of buildings. However, the inspection of such damaged buildings poses a high risk for emergency forces or is even impossible. We present three recently selected missions of the Robotics Task Force of the German Rescue Robotics Center (DRZ), where both ground and aerial robots were used to explore destroyed buildings. We describe and reflect the missions as well as the lessons learned that have resulted from them. To make robots from research laboratories fit for real operations, realistic outdoor and indoor test environments were set up at the DRZ and used for tests in regular exercises by researchers and emergency forces. On the basis of this experience, the robots and their control software were significantly improved. Furthermore, expert teams of researchers and first responders were formed, each with realistic assessments of the operational and practical suitability of robotic systems. KW - ground and aerial robots KW - human–robot interaction KW - public safety KW - rescue robotics KW - search and rescue Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:hbz:1010-opus4-47070 SN - 1556-4959 VL - 2023 IS - 41(3) SP - 782 EP - 797 PB - Wiley ER -