Intelligent robot-assisted evacuation: A review

Abstract

Mass gathering in places such as shopping mall, concerts, sport events etc. is a necessity but may pose threat to the occupants during emergency. This paper presents a review of the different approaches of the crowd evacuation problems which can be classified into classical and modern methods. The classical methods have been widely used which basically depends on prior evacuation warnings or human in assisting an emergent evacuation scenario. Nonetheless, with the lack of important information such as the location of the safest exit, the consequence can be catastrophic. As a result, classical evacuation method becomes tough even though many people might able to assist the evacuees during such situation. Overcoming this, researchers have developed intelligent robots-assisted evacuation systems as a modern approach to manage crowds more systematically and simultaneously during emergency, which will be reviewed in this paper. Finally, this review paper aims to give a broad scope of the reliable evacuation system management to ensure the safety of the evacuees during emergency evacuation.

An autonomous ground robot to support firefighters' interventions in indoor emergencies

“…The literature contains multiple proposals of robots for firefighting. There are reviews on multiple topics, such as fire extinguishing robots (Liu et al, 2016), fire detection sensors (Fonollosa et al, 2018; Gaur et al, 2019), and robot‐assisted evacuation (Bahamid et al, 2020). We have addressed a systematic search of fire detection, monitoring and extinguishing robots, finding the relevant works collected in Table 1.…”

Toward cognitive digital twins using a BIM-GIS asset management system for a diffused university

“…• Traditional evacuation strategies: Occupants rely on visual signs, markers, and plans, which determine whether people can safely leave a building (Bahamid et al, 2020) and correct position and visibility according to the emergency plan adopted (Cabinet Office, 2009). Consequently, fire escape routes are frequently marked with visual signs, despite their relatively rapid deterioration in effectiveness with smoke accumulation on the higher part of emergency corridors (Rea et al, 1985;Shell and Matarić, 2005;Ibrahim et al, 2016), and it was demonstrated that people fail to notice and follow them when panicked (Bahamid et al, 2020). Shell and Matarić (2005) demonstrated that even a small number of beacons can help overcome this gap, reducing the expected egress time.…”

“…In addition, they detect and dynamically act according to the environment changes in real-time by considering density, pedestrian flow, and location of the hazard (Tang et al, 2016). Research studies about this field can be divided into three main categories according to the purpose and function of the proposed systems (Bahamid et al, 2020): 1) evacuation guidance systems (Wada and Takahashi, 2013;Ikeda and Inoue, 2016;Zhou et al, 2019), 2) search and rescue systems (Ruangpayoongsak et al, 2005;Murphy et al, 2008;Annuar et al, 2016;Enshasy et al, 2019), and 3) regulation and management of the people flow during evacuation (Boukas et al, 2015;Jiang et al, 2016;Shan et al, 2018;Wan et al, 2020).…”

Hybrid Architectural Network Implementation to Realize a Fire Evacuation Path with 2.4 GHz Zigbee and LoRa

“…In this section, we discuss the previous studies that focused on implementing distinct techniques and systems for fire detection and an evacuation path. The classic method is widespread and essentially relies on prior evacuation warnings or human assistance in the event of an evacuation scenario; however, the lack of important information such as the safest exit location can be catastrophic [18]. An intelligent evacuation system is the latest approach to a more systematic and simultaneous management of crowds in an emergency [19,20].…”