How R.O.S.A. saves lives
Students have developed an autonomous robot that detects injured people and assists emergency services in assessing the situation.
An underground car park filled with smoke following a vehicle fire. Visibility is very poor, the situation is unclear, and there may be injured people in the building. Before emergency services enter such an area, they must first establish whether it is safe to do so and whether there are still people in the danger zone.
This is precisely where a teaching project from the Electrical Engineering and Information Technology degree programme at Hochschule München comes in.
As part of the Computer Engineering project led by Jens Halbig, students Isabel Aign, Moritz Wahl, Maximilian Seemüller, Linus San and Zain Alishammat have developed an autonomous robot capable of independently exploring unknown and potentially dangerous areas. The aim of the teaching project was to assist emergency services in assessing the situation and to identify injured people at an early stage.
The robot is called R.O.S.A., which stands for Rescue Operation Search Assistant.
Autonomous exploration and AI-powered person recognition
The system is designed to enter confusing or dangerous areas first and gather information there before people enter the scene.
Whilst travelling, the robot automatically creates a digital map of its surroundings. With the help of artificial intelligence, the system can also detect injured people and determine their location.
If a person is identified, the system responds depending on the situation:
Either an emergency call is triggered automatically, or the person concerned is escorted by the robot to an evacuation zone. At the same time, the system’s position and status are continuously transmitted, enabling emergency services to monitor the situation remotely. If necessary, the robot can also be controlled manually at any time.
Systems Engineering in Practice
The project serves as a prime example of how various disciplines within electrical engineering and information technology work together. In R.O.S.A., mechanics, sensor technology, embedded systems, software development, artificial intelligence and communication interfaces are all interlinked.
This highlights what sets many student projects apart: individual technical components are integrated into a fully functional system.
Project presented at the Projektvernissage
The Rescue Operation Search Assistant was unveiled at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology’s Projektvernissage. The event gives students the opportunity to present their course projects to the public and to provide insights into current topics in electrical engineering and information technology.
The video for this project was produced by the students and documents the development and operation of the system.
The next Projektvernissage will take place on 2 July 2026 from 10 am to 1 pm at Hochschule München (Lothstraße 64).