TRIFFID: Autonomous Robotic Aid For Increasing First Responders Efficiency

TL;DR

TRIFFID addresses the challenge of increasing disaster complexity by integrating autonomous UAV/UGV platforms with AI, AR, and knowledge-graph–driven interaction to support first responders. The approach combines a hybrid robotic platform, a centralized AR-enabled ground station, a private low-latency communications network, and a FR smartphone app to deliver real-time semantic mapping, adaptive mission planning, and safe human–robot collaboration. Key contributions include a three-layer mission planner, MPC-based autonomous navigation, fault-tolerant safety mechanisms, multimodal perception with semantic 3D mapping, AR-based HCI, and three real-world use-cases (wildfire, urban flood, USAR after earthquake) that demonstrate improved situational awareness and operational efficiency. The work suggests significant practical impact for urban disaster response by reducing FR exposure and accelerating data collection and decision-making through an integrated, modular robotics platform.

Abstract

The increasing complexity of natural disaster incidents demands innovative technological solutions to support first responders in their efforts. This paper introduces the TRIFFID system, a comprehensive technical framework that integrates unmanned ground and aerial vehicles with advanced artificial intelligence functionalities to enhance disaster response capabilities across wildfires, urban floods, and post-earthquake search and rescue missions. By leveraging state-of-the-art autonomous navigation, semantic perception, and human-robot interaction technologies, TRIFFID provides a sophisticated system composed of the following key components: hybrid robotic platform, centralized ground station, custom communication infrastructure, and smartphone application. The defined research and development activities demonstrate how deep neural networks, knowledge graphs, and multimodal information fusion can enable robots to autonomously navigate and analyze disaster environments, reducing personnel risks and accelerating response times. The proposed system enhances emergency response teams by providing advanced mission planning, safety monitoring, and adaptive task execution capabilities. Moreover, it ensures real-time situational awareness and operational support in complex and risky situations, facilitating rapid and precise information collection and coordinated actions.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: TRIFFID system functional architecture.
• Figure 2: TRIFFID system technical architecture.
• Figure 3: Indicative visual content from TRIFFID's supported use cases: i) Wildfire in suburban environments markuseContainsModifiedCopernicus2023, ii) Urban flood wrightRaisingFloodDefences2005, and iii) USAR after earthquake defensieNederlandsHetWas2015.