--- title: "When a Catastrophe Is Too Big or Dangerous, Send in the AI Drones and Robot Dogs" date: 2026-11-05T05:30:00-05:00 author: University of Maryland canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/when-a-catastrophe-is-too-big-or-dangerous-send-in-the-ai-drones-and-robot-dogs" section: Articles --- # When a Catastrophe Is Too Big or Dangerous, Send in the AI Drones and Robot Dogs *November 5, 2026* — by [John Tucker](/author/john-tucker) > UMD Research Changes Lives: UMD team’s autonomous system that directs first responders to the most urgent victims heads to a national competition. *Robo Scout DTC Experimentation Event 07292026 SC 0448 1920x1080 — An autonomous 'dog' robot searches a mock disaster scene for victims to help. On Friday, UMD's RoboScout team will compete as a finalist in the 2023-26 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Triage Challenge in Texas, vying for a $1.5 million grand prize. (Photos by Stephanie S. Cordle)* James Martin raced to the woman splayed on the ground, one arm severed above the wrist. He grabbed scissors from his medic’s bag and sheared off her clothes, preparing to apply a tourniquet, when a geyser of blood erupted from her upper thigh. “Don’t let me die,” whimpered the woman, her chest heaving. “I’m trying not to, lady,” Martin said, plugging her wound with a gloved finger and explaining she’d been in a car crash. Martin scanned the scene: a 13-vehicle pileup in which a city bus rear-ended a school bus and a garbage truck flattened a sedan. Two dozen victims were hurt, some semiconscious and wailing, others staggering around like zombies. “I need some help! He’s stuck in the truck and can’t breathe!” a man cried in the smoky distance. In reality, no tragedy had occurred. The smashed-up vehicles were part of a simulation at the Fairfax Urban Search and Rescue’s training facility in Lorton, Va., and the victims were role players plastered with horror-film-grade blood, along with two manikins — including Tammy, the woman with the groin injury — who can talk via AI and appear to breathe, pulsate and bleed. A crowd of EMTs, police officers and U.S. military representatives had assembled on this mild summer morning to watch a live experiment run by a University of Maryland robotics team to showcase an artificial intelligence system it developed to aid the lifesaving efforts of first responders like Martin. With limited numbers, medics often can’t locate, let alone treat, everyone at once at a mass casualty scene. In the 10 minutes before Martin and his partner, Vienna, entered the simulation, two drones and three autonomous four-legged robot “dogs” had pinpointed and photographed victims, used an algorithm to assess their injuries, then fed the results to the medics, via WiFi-powered tablets that displayed GPS maps with their locations. In a future real-life scenario, the medics would study this information in an ambulance racing to the scene, getting a head start on triaging victims and determining whom to treat first. “If a medic can get to certain patients in 10 minutes they’ll live; if not, they’ll die,” said Derek A. Paley, the Willis H. Young Jr. Professor of Aerospace Engineering Education and leader of the UMD team, named [RoboScout](https://roboscout.umd.edu), comprising more than two dozen students, researchers and faculty. The simulation was a preview of what’s to come starting Friday, when RoboScout will compete as a finalist in the 2023-26 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [(DARPA) Triage Challenge](https://www.darpa.mil/research/challenges/darpa-triage-challenge) in College Station, Texas. Fourteen university and industry teams will be judged on how well their high-tech systems could assist military and civilian first responders, vying for a $1.5 million grand prize in the weeklong competition sponsored by the Pentagon’s advanced technology R&D agency. For healthcare workers reacting to school shootings, military battles and highway pileups, AI assistance could be a boon, not just with triage but by providing real-time information to surgeons standing by at hospitals. “This technology is important for homeland security,” said Jody Cantu, the Air Force Research Laboratory’s En Route Care technical lead that oversees the research programs for transport and care for airmen injured in battle. Her team is in contracts with Paley to develop a RoboScout-like system for situations where airmen might have been exposed to dangerous chemicals in a warzone. “That would make it a mass casualty scenario, but you don’t want your medics to become casualties, too, so we’d deploy the RoboScout platform first,” she said. *medic tends to injured man near crashed truck — Paramedic James Martin attends to a role-player posing as a victim during a simulation at the Fairfax Urban Search and Rescue’s training facility in Lorton, Va., in July.* Fifteen minutes before he was plugging Tammy’s wound, Martin had been on the sideline studying his tablet as the drones and robotic dogs searched for victims. With AI-equipped sensors that include color and thermal cameras, radar and microphones, the dogs hear screams, converse with victims and determine vitals like heart rate, alertness and respiratory distress along with injuries like blood loss, trauma and amputation. One dog robot, equipped with cameras, two-way audio and a large-language model that allows it to hold a conversation, approached a bloodied victim and said, “I’m here to help. Move your arms so I can check if you’re mobile.” After taking pictures, the dog said: “I need to assess others. A medic will be here soon.” As that happened, color-coded pushpins appeared on Martin’s map: red for high-need, yellow for lower-need, black for dead. “I see the first patient. It’s yellow, no images yet,” Martin told Vienna from the sideline. “Now I have an urgent — someone’s hemorrhaging, respiratory distress.” A red pin popped up. “Amputation. Oculars closed. Not speaking or moving.” Each victim was assigned a number. “You go to 22, I’ll go to 1,” Martin told Vienna moments before they finally sprinted onto the course. In his 19-year career, Martin has seen victims of gunshot wounds, cardiac arrests and diabetic attacks die before his eyes; some would have lived if he’d arrived earlier. “I might be doing CPR or starting an IV, and they code,” said Martin, who works for the trauma resuscitation unit of the University of Maryland Medical Center’s R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. *person in red shirt views scene on laptop — A RoboScout team member observes drone footage of a highway pileup simulation. Two drones and three robot drones used A.I. to identify victim location, vial signs and type and severity of injuries.* **Sidebar note:** **UMD Research Changes Lives** At the University of Maryland, scientists and scholars come together to spark new ideas, pursue important discoveries and tackle humanity's grand challenges—improving lives in our communities and across the globe. See more examples of how UMD research changes lives at [today.umd.edu/topic/research-impact](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research-impact). **Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research) **Tags:** [Research Impact](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research-impact), [Artificial Intelligence](https://today.umd.edu/topic/artificial-intelligence), [Robotics](https://today.umd.edu/topic/robotics), [Drone / UAS Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/drone-uas-research), [Aerospace Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/aerospace-engineering), [Academic Competitions](https://today.umd.edu/topic/academic-competitions), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research) **Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering)