DRZ
In their daily work, task forces face a variety of challenges. Despite training, tactical concepts and protective equipment, thousands of emergency personnel are injured or killed worldwide every year. With the advancing technical development, it is foreseeable that mobile robot systems will take over tasks in order to make the operation more efficient and above all safer. The requirements on the supporting rescue robot systems are complex and varied.
Project duration: 01.10.2018 - 30.09.2022 (Phase 1: A-DRZ); 01.10.2022 - 30.09.2026 (Phase 2: DRZ)

The German Rescue Robotic Centre (DRZ) is intended to promote the use of robot systems in civil terrestrial emergency response in hostile environments. Here, the four guiding scenarios of fire, collapse & burial, detection of hazardous substances and flooding as well as the resulting challenges for rescue robotics form the basis. Among other activities, a so-called Living Lab will be set up for this purpose, i.e. a laboratory with an attached test site, in which scientists, companies and users can jointly research the best possible solutions for supporting rescue robots and test them in realistic environments.
The implementation of the DRZ will create a national competence centre with international appeal. For the first time in Germany, emergency forces, researchers and industry will work on the realization of autonomous rescue robots and the establishment of a national and international robotics task force. In addition, test and inspection criteria are developed in order to ensure later standardization and certification of different robot systems. The Communication Networks Institute (CNI) will be in charge of the work on robust wireless networking of robotic systems even under the difficult conditions of a rescue operation.
The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research under the grant agreement number 13N16476.
News
Successful 6GEM Demonstration in the Test Field of Rescue Robotics
The 6GEM team of the rescue robotics test field, led by TU Dortmund-CNI, has successfully achieved all milestone project goals in the second year.
CNI introduces new communication-related challenge to Robocup Rescue Word Championship
Remote-controlled rescue robots were challenged with CNI's vSTING to prove their ability to operate in the face of impaired communications.
6GEM@INTERSCHUTZ 2022: Demonstrating the potential of the future Rescue Robotics Metaverse
CNI presents the 6GEM vision of future immersive control of robots in rescue missions by first responders on the DRZ booth at INTERSCHUTZ 2022.
BMBF 6G research hub "6GEM" visits DRZ Living Lab for evaluation experiments
Which added value can future 6G mobile communications systems provide for highly relevant use cases in society and industry? This is one of the…
5G.NRWeek Rocket Session: interactive live rescue robotics demo at high-profile 5G event
CNI has interactively illustrated requirements and opportunities of 5G in rescue robotics in close cooperation with the Fire Department Dortmund and…
CNI joins firefighting exercise in rescue robotics project
As part of the establishment of German Rescue Robotics Center (DRZ), CNI is working on reliable communications solutions for use in disaster…
Publications
Realtime Wireless Network Emulation for Evaluation of Teleoperated Mobile Robots
M. Patchou, et al.
In 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotic (SSRR), November 2022, Spain.
QoE Evaluation of Real-Time Remote Operation with Network Constraints in a System-of-Systems
C. Schüler, T. Gebauer, M. Patchou, C. Wietfeld
In 2022 Annual IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon), Virtual Event.
Experimental Evaluation of IEEE 802.15.4z UWB Ranging Performance under Interference
J. Tiemann, J. Friedrich, C. Wietfeld
In Sensors, vol. 22, no. 4, 2022.
Modeling and simulation of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces for hybrid aerial and ground-based vehicular communications
K. Heimann, B. Sliwa, M. Patchou, C. Wietfeld
In Proceedings of the 24th International ACM Conference MSWiM 2021
Pushing the Limits: Resilience Testing for Mission-Critical Machine-Type Communication
C. Arendt, M. Patchou, S. Böcker, J. Tiemann, C. Wietfeld
In 2021 IEEE 94th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC-Fall), Virtual Event, September 2021
German Rescue Robotics Center (DRZ): A Holistic Approach for Robotic Systems Assisting in Emergency Response
I. Kruijff-Korbayova, et al.
In 2021 IEEE International Conference on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics (SSRR), New York, USA, October 2021.
Robust machine learning-enabled routing for highly mobile vehicular networks with PARRoT in ns-3
C. Schüler, M. Patchou, B. Sliwa, C. Wietfeld
In Proceedings of the 2021 Workshop on Ns-3, Virtual, June 2021.
Flying Robots for Safe and Efficient Parcel Delivery Within the COVID-19 Pandemic
M. Patchou, B. Sliwa, C. Wietfeld
In 2021 IEEE 15th International Systems Conference, Vancouver, Canada, April 2021
PARRoT: Predictive ad-hoc routing fueled by reinforcement learning and trajectory knowledge
B. Sliwa, C. Schüler, M. Patchou, C. Wietfeld
In 2021 IEEE 93rd VTC-Spring, Helsinki, Finland, April 2021. (Best Student Paper Award).