Special issue on disaster response robotics

Disaster response robotics is an important and growing application domain in robotics. Robotics researchers and the general public are increasingly aware of disaster response and rescue robotics due to the presence of disaster response robots at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant. Research in disaster response robotics focuses on core areas related to safety, security, and rescue applications toward disaster response, mitigation and recovery; rapid and secure inspection of critical infrastructure, detection of chemical, biological and radiological risks, and ongoing operation in dangerous and hazardous domains. Researchers have proposed various solutions toward these applications using robotics technologies including: mechatronics, sensing and recognition, SLAM, tele-robotics, human interface, and communication. This special issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of this active research area with the latest results on disaster response robotics systems and technologies. Therefore, we solicit technical papers on all aspects of disaster response robotics including, but not limited to, the following topics: * Assessment, care and extraction * Chemical, biological, or radiological events * Computer vision * Humanitarian demining * Humanoid robots * Human-robot interaction * Inspection of critical infrastructure * Manipulation * Navigation and mapping * Nuclear decommissioning * Sensing and sensor fusion * SLAM in extreme environments * Structural assessment * Tele-robotics * Unmanned ground, aerial, and marine vehicles * Urban search and rescue * Wild-land fire fighting