This new quadrotor has 8 independent controls that control the velocity and the angle of all the rotors. One of the new capabilities that could be useful is the fact that if you had a camera that could not tilt you still could get that view by tilting the entire quadrotot giving you better control over what you can see. The quadrotor is still in prototype phase, but this robot could have interesting applications for scanning and seeing disaster areas better.
Here is the link to the full article at IEEE Spectrum .

Every year, one of the three Texas Task Force 1 teams spends a weekend getting hands-on training in the 52-acre facility called Disaster City, a Texas Engineering Extension Service facility just south of College Station’s Easterwood Airport, serves as the training grounds for Texas Task Force 1. “Today is about working in the suits, being safe around radiological contamination, proper planning and knowing how to work as a team,” Operations Chief Jeff Saunders said.

The full article is at theeagle.com

Researchers in the Sheffield Centre for Robotics are working on making small robots that do not have much thinking power, but are used in a swarm to complete different tasks. Right now these robots are small, but On a larger scale, they could play a part in military, or search and rescue operations, acting together in areas where it would be too dangerous or impractical for humans to go.
Here is the link to the full article at Phys.org and at Science Daily.

The robot features GPS navigation tools, artificial intelligence, sound and image processing, autopilot search and rescue and a range of sensors including a three axel gyroscope, barometer, and compass. The robot is used to find people in the ocean and give them flotation items, as well as help rescuers found them.
Here is the link to the full article Wired.co.uk .
Here is another link to the full article from Robotics Trends .

New research is being done in Swarm robotics. This techonlogy can be used to help search and recsue efforts by giving more vision to surounding areas.
Here is the article from Phys.org.

Here is a podcast about training the first generation of drone pilots. A lot of good questions are raised, and these pilots, could see a use in Disaster Relief efforts as well.
Here is the article from IEE Spectrum .

Last week the Arab Regional Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction was held, to put together a guildline for how many Arab conuntires will response to Disasters.
Here is the full article from Ansamed .

Researcher Daniel Goldman, a professor in the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is studying how animals move through granny surfaces, and trying to create a robot legs that can help a robot easily navigate through theses rough terrain environment. Here is the full article from Phys Org
Here is two more articles talking about terradynamics: Business Insider and Io9

Assistant Professor Dr. Aaron Ames at the A&M Bipedal Experimental Robotics Lab (AMBER), he and his students have worked to create a robot that walks like a human. This techonlogy could have applications in space exploration, disaster response, military operations, prosthetics and other areas. Here is the full article.