FP7-Icarus

ICARUS IN A NUTSHELL

After the earthquakes in l’Aquila, Haiti and Japan, the European Commission confirmed that there exists a large discrepancy between (robotic) technology which is developed in laboratory and the use of such technology on the terrain for Search and Rescue (SAR) operations and crisis management.

Thus, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry decided to fund ICARUS, a Research project (global budget: 17.5M€) which aims to develop robotic tools which can assist “human” crisis intervention teams.

Search & Rescue

Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger

Latest news

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31/10/2017 ICARUS legacy video
Started in 2012, the ICARUS research project aims to develop robotic tools which can assist "human" operator during Search and Rescue (SAR) operations. This 26-min video provides an overview of several ICARUS tools developed during the project.

18/09/2017 Check out the new ICARUS Project Book
Released in 2017 by the ICARUS consortium, the book describes in detail the methodology applied to develop new SAR tools as well as their corresponding commercial applications. The book also provides an excellent summary of the results of the project in 266 pages divided into 10 chapters.

20/01/2017 SAVE THE DATE: Emergency Robot competition to take place on 15-23 September 2017 (Piombino, Italy)
The European Robotics League announces place and dates for new Emergency Robots competition: Piombino (Italy), 15-23 September, 2017. THE CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS IS OPEN! The deadline for the first phase of the application is 3rd April 2017 See details HERE...

12/01/2016 New video of the ICARUS Final Land Demonstration
On the 4th of September 2015, the final field trials of the robotic tools developed within the FP7 ICARUS project took place on the training grounds of the Belgian First Aid and Support Team (ICARUS member B-FAST) in Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium.

11/12/2015 Check out the new ICARUS newsletter
The ICARUS consortium is pleased to announce the publication of its newsletter describing the major project achivements for the past 6 months, including: - ICARUS partcipation to euRathlon (September 2015); - ICARUS land demonstration in Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium (September 2015); - First-ever legal RPAS flight in Brus...

17/11/2015 Succesfull ICARUS participation in the UN-INSARAG Global Meeting in Abu Dhabi (18-19 October 2015)
Daniela Doroftei - Member of the ICARUS Coordination Team in Abu Dhabi (Credits RMA) The ICARUS team successfully participated in the UN-INSARAG Global Meeting which took place on October 18-19 in Abu Dhabi alongside with key players from the internati...

29/09/2015 ICARUS final field demo successfully took place in Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium
On the 4th of September 2015, the final field trials of the robotic tools developed within the FP7 ICARUS project took place on the training grounds of the Belgian First Aid and Support Team (ICARUS member B-FAST) in Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium. The purpose of the demonstratio...

28/09/2015 ICARUS consortium releases new videos of the Sea Demo at Alfeite, Portugal
On the 9th and 10th of July 2015, ICARUS project partners simulated a maritime crisis management scenario at the Navy Base of Alfeite (Almada) in Portugal.

24/07/2015 ICARUS makes first-ever legal RPAS flight in Brussels
On 7 May 2015, a rotorcraft developed within the ICARUS FP7 research project performed the first-ever legally approved Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAS) flight in Brussels, less than one kilometre away from the Berlaymont building, the iconic headquarters of the European Commission, as confirmed by the Be...

09/07/2015 ICARUS and TIRAMISU successfully present their SAR and humanitarian demining systems in the EU Civil Protection Forum 2015
The 5th European Civil Protection Forum took place in Brussels on 6 and 7 May 2015, featuring a conference as well as an indoor exhibition and an outdoor demonstration of RPAS and drones.

22/06/2015 ICARUS invited to exhibit at the INSARAG Global Meeting in October 2015 in Abu Dhabi, UAE
The ICARUS project has been invited to participate to INSARAG's forthcoming Global Meeting alongside key players from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (ISDR), the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the World Humanit...

15/05/2015 Mark your calendar: Final Demonstration of the Urban SAR Scenario of the ICARUS Project, 04/09/2015 at Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium
Fourth of September 2015 will see the final field trials of the robotic tools of the FP7 ICARUS Project, at Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium. The field trials will showcase the ICARUS robotic tools, which have been developed for the Ur...

15/05/2015 Successful participation of ICARUS in the 2015 EU Civil Protection Forum
The 5th European Civil Protection Forum took place in Brussels on 6 and 7 May 2015, featuring a conference as well as an indoor exhibition and an outdoor demonstration of RPAS and drones. The ICARUS FP7 research project, which aims to develop robotic tools that can assist “human” crisi...

29/04/2015 Nepal earthquake: ICARUS partners B-FAST and ESRI to the rescue
Following the earthquake that happened saturday 25/04/2015 in Nepal, Belgium has decided to send a B-fast team (Belgian First Aid & support team) composed of 45 people. The B-FAST team, which is a full ICARUS partner, will be executing urban search and rescue operations in Nepal...

ICARUS legacy video

Started in 2012, the ICARUS research project aims to develop robotic tools which can assist "human" operator during Search and Rescue (SAR) operations. This 26-min video provides an overview of several ICARUS tools developed during the project.

ICARUS partners won multiple prizes and awards at euRathlon 2015

Several ICARUS consortium partners successfully participated in the euRathlon 2015 Challenge which took place in Piombino (Italy) from 17 to 25 September 2015. This year, the ICARUS team which ranked second of the overall competition was composed of Eurecat (Spain), IMM (Poland), INESC (Portugal), Integrasys (Spain), RMA (Belgium), SPACE Apps (Belgium) and UKL (Germany). Additional ICARUS partners were also present in Italy to support and help the team, including CINAV (Portugal), CMRE (Italy) and SpaceTec Partners (Belgium).

ICARUS consortium (Credit: SpaceTec Partners)

Project Objectives

Development of a light sensor capable of detecting human beings
Development of cooperative Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) tools for unmanned SAR
Development of cooperative Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) tools for unmanned SAR
Development of cooperative Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) tools for unmanned SAR
Heterogeneous robot collaboration between Unmanned Search And Rescue devices
Development of a self-organising cognitive wireless communication network, ensuring network interoperability
Integration of Unmanned Search And Rescue tools in the C4I systems of the Human Search And Rescue forces
Development of a training and support system of the developed Unmanned Search And Rescue for the Human Search And Rescue teams