RoboCupRescue2006 - Robot League, Deutschland1 (Germany)

After scoring second in RoboCup Rescue 2004 with Kurt3D and participating in 2005 with two robots, namely Kurt3D and RTS Crawler, we concentrated on the development of interaction between both vehicles. Kurt3D is able to autonomously explore and map the environment in 3D and search for victims. The RTS Crawler is designed to access more demanding territory (i.e., red arena), working either remote controlled or semi-autonomous. The key innovation of this system lies in the capability for autonomous 6D SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) and 3D map generation of natural scenes, combined with the intelligent cooperation between robots that enables one operator to efficiently map and explore the whole arena. The robots are equipped with dedicated state of the art equipment, e.g., 3D laser range finders, infrared camera and CO2-sensor. Robots as well as operator station are rather compact and easy to set up. The challenge of controlling two rescue robots with only one operator is managed with a redesigned user interface and a number of autonomous and semiautonomous features.