AHEAD (Autonomous Humanitarian Emergency Aid Devices): Remote-controlled access to crisis regions
As part of a new collaborative project, researchers from the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and a consortium of additional DLR institutes and technology partners are investigating how aid supplies can be safely brought to their destinations using remote-controlled trucks. Robot-controlled vehicles are to be used on routes that pose a great risk to human drivers, such as the impassable and flood-prone areas of South Sudan. They will be controlled by telepresence from a safe location. The launch of the joint project with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) took place in Oberpfaffenhofen on 21 October.