About CRASAR

2004 workshop and field exercise at the NASA Ames Research Center’s DART facility (co-hosted by CRASAR)

The Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) is a Type II Center at Texas A&M University, with Dr. Robin Murphy as the overall Director. It serves as crisis response and research organization which strives to direct and exploit new technology development in robotics and unmanned systems for humanitarian purposes worldwide. It was originally established under the auspices of NIUSR (National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue), and participated in the WTC response, deploying robots on Towers 1 and 2, Building 4, and other areas from the early morning of 9/12/2001 through 10/2/2001. Since then, we have participated in numerous incidents and exercises as well as hosted workshops and training exercises (see below). CRASAR has the largest number of deployments of rescue robots of any type: land, sea, or air.

Our mission is to serve existing rescue organizations by providing deployable robot-assisted search and rescue teams while fostering research into SAR-specific robot systems and educating the public.

Incidents CRASAR has Participated In:

World Traded Center 9/11 (2001)

Hurricane Charley (2004)

La Conchita Mudslides (2005)

Hurricane Katrina (2005)

Post-Hurricane Wilma (2005)

Post-Hurricane Katrina (2005)

Midas Gold Mine Collapse, Nevada (2007)

Crandall Canyon Coal Mine Collapse, Utah (2007)

Berkman Plaza II Collapse, Jacksonville FL (2007)

Berkman Plaza II Collapse forensic support (2008)

Post-Hurricane Ike (2008)