Sherpa

SHERPA aims at developing a mixed ground as well as an aerial robotic platform in order to support search and rescue activities in a hostile, real-world environment, such as the Alpine's. SHERPA stands for: Smart collaboration between Humans and ground-aErial Robots for imProving rescuing activities in Alpine environments

The project has the capability to be owned by various SHERPA system actors, including the "human" rescuer” or the "busy genius" that works as the "intelligent donkey” in team with the aerial platforms ("patrolling hawks" and "trained wasps"). There is no doubt that the research activity emphasizes how the "SHERPA animals" and the "busy genius" collaborate and interact with each other, using their own capabilities and features, toward the accomplishment of a common goal.

Being a combination of cognitive abilities and advanced control, the goal of SHERPA system is to support the rescuer by making him aware of the rescue scene even in complex situations wherein the “genius” is usually “busy” and isn’t able to supervise the platform. This is why, there is more focus placed on attaining cognitive capabilities, collaboration strategies, robust autonomy of the platform and implicit as well as natural interaction between the "SHERPA animals" and the "genius", as this motivates the research activity.