# The Next Generation of Human-Drone Partnerships: Co-Designing an Emergency Response System

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.03849 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.03849/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 12 Jan 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Adaptive Autonomy in Human-on-the-Loop Vision-Based Robotics Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.15053/) (2021)
- [NOMAD: A Natural, Occluded, Multi-scale Aerial Dataset, for Emergency Response Scenarios](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.09518/) (2023)
- [LLM-Agents Driven Automated Simulation Testing and Analysis of small Uncrewed Aerial Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.11864/) (2025)
- [Cognitive Guardrails for Open-World Decision Making in Autonomous Drone Swarms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.23576/) (2025)
- [LLM-Driven Self-Refinement for Embodied Drone Task Planning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.15501/) (2025)
- [Psych-Occlusion: Using Visual Psychophysics for Aerial Detection of Occluded Persons during Search and Rescue](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.05553/) (2024)
- [Cognition Envelopes for Bounded Decision Making in Autonomous UAS Operations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.26905/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The use of semi-autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to support emergency response scenarios, such as fire surveillance and search and rescue, offers the potential for huge societal benefits. However, designing an effective solution in this complex domain represents a "wicked design" problem, requiring a careful balance between trade-offs associated with drone autonomy versus human control, mission functionality versus safety, and the diverse needs of different stakeholders. This paper focuses on designing for situational awareness (SA) using a scenario-driven, participatory design process. We developed SA cards describing six common design-problems, known as SA demons, and three new demons of importance to our domain. We then used these SA cards to equip domain experts with SA knowledge so that they could more fully engage in the design process. We designed a potentially reusable solution for achieving SA in multi-stakeholder, multi-UAV, emergency response applications.