HUMANITARIAN ROBOTICS

Robots have become more and more common in High-Income Countries (HICs) but use in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries (LICs and MICs, respectively) is virtually non-existent. While this lack of use is not surprising to most people, there are many issues facing these communities where robots could make a huge impact. Consider Cambodia, one of the most unexploded ordnance contaminated countries in the world, robots could be used to keep humanitarian demining and explosive ordnance disposal technicians out of harm's way. In India, where traffic congestion can be severe, drones could be used to increase the speed of supplies to first responders - this also has application in rural communities in the United States. In post-disaster relief, like recent events in Haiti or Indonesia, robotic devices could be used for infrastructure inspection and search and rescue missions. In these cases, and many more, robots could be the difference between life and death... The application and success of..