Overview (Instructors, certification, cost)
	Awareness Training (1.5 hours)
	Operator Training (24 hours)

About CRASAR and Training
The Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) at the University of South Florida offers training in rescue robotics to search and rescue professionals. There are two training courses: a 1.5-hour awareness training course and a 24-hour operator training course, which covers both awareness and operations. Courses are taught on-site. The courses emphasize hands-on learning, with a minimum of classroom lectures. The classroom portions make extensive use of videos of the robots from the WTC and training evolutions to illustrate key points.

Instructors
Lead instructors are Prof. Robin Murphy, Eric Rasmussen, MD, FACP, and Sam Stover. Murphy participated in the robot-assisted search and rescue at the WTC and is a technical search specialist with FL-TF-3, Stover is a technical search specialist with IN-TF-1 and director of operations for the CRASAR response team. Murphy is an associate professor of computer science at the University of South Florida and director of CRASAR, and has won several teaching awards. Rasmussen is a former faculty member with the American Trauma Society, and has worked large-scale emergencies in Bosnia, Turkey, Kenya, and Zambia. He is currently a disaster medicine specialist for the US Central Command in the Middle East, and a disaster response instructor for both the American College of Physicians and the United Nations -World Health Organization.

Certification
Participants who complete the course receive a certificate from CRASAR and the University of South Florida.

Cost
Currently, the cost is free if CRASAR is allowed to ask participants for permission to videotape the training for research purposes. CRASAR supplies robots and instructional materials, including handouts, while the participants' organization supplies a confined space simulator and a collapsed structure and/or rubble pile.

Awareness Training (1.5 hours)
This is a 1.5 hour course, may be scheduled separately or as part of a package with Rescue Training Associates. The course provides a short, hands-on introduction to rescue robots, how they can be applied to the each of the ESF9 activities, and a comparison of capabilities. This is useful to both tactical rescue workers and emergency managers who wish to learn more about the types of robots and evaluate the technology and necessary training before purchasing a particular model.

Objectives:

By the end of the course, the participant will:

Operator Training (24 hours)
This is a three-day course, stressing strategies for the actual operation of rescue robots, from initial deployment to decontamination. The hands-on course will also emphasize strategies for effective use of the robots and for minimizing errors in technical search, rescue, and technical support functions. Participants completing this course will be able to use robots in the field, and have a greater understanding of which robots will fit their team's needs and how to use them.

Objectives:

By the end of the class, the participant will