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About

Chandler Griffin is a pioneering robotics researcher whose work has fundamentally advanced the deployment of unmanned systems in disaster response, structural inspection, and maritime operations. Affiliated with the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) at the University of South Florida, Griffin has been instrumental in developing cooperative multi-robot frameworks that integrate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for real-world emergency applications. Griffin's most influential contribution, accumulating 219 citations, emerged from the landmark deployment of cooperative unmanned systems following Hurricane Wilma in 2005 — one of the earliest documented uses of heterogeneous robot teams in disaster response. This groundbreaking field work demonstrated that aerial and maritime robots could work in tandem to survey hurricane damage, establishing a template for future multi-domain robotic systems. His subsequent development of the Sea-RAI marsupial robot team — the first known man-portable USV capable of hosting a UAV — further extended these principles to military and environmental inspection missions. Griffin also pioneered the use of tethered small UAS for structural forensic inspection following the Berkman Plaza II parking garage collapse, navigating FAA regulatory constraints with creative engineering solutions. Collectively, his body of work, spanning over 350 citations, has helped transform unmanned systems from laboratory concepts into operational tools for real-world crisis response.