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” crisis intervention teams, participated to the Forum by:
a) giving a talk and taking part in a panel discussion on “Using new technologies including UAVs for assessing and mapping”;
b) operating an indoor stand at the Forum; and
c) demonstrating the capabilities of the ICARUS ASCAMM rotorcraft and the UKL Small UGV, controlled by the SPACE C2I, at the two scheduled outdoor demonstrations.
Despite the challenging - and thus near-real-life SAR scenario - weather conditions (10 m/s wind with strong gusts, sporadic rain), all systems worked perfectly, showcasing the capabilities of UAVs and UGVs in SAR operations.
Numerous stakeholders followed the demonstration, among them were Mr. Christos Stylianides, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management as well as multiple high-level EU staff members.
Photo Gallery available at: http://client.deribaucourt.com/2015-05-06-epcf/
EC Video footage available at: https://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/shotlist.cfm?ref=I102870
Figure 1: Alessandro Carrotta, from DG ECHO, presenting to Commissioner Christos Stylianides the features of the ASCAMM rotorcraft, which was developed within the ICARUS Project (Credit: SpaceTec Partners)