The UNSW rescue robot team has turned in a powerful performance at the world championship RoboCup 2009 competition in Austria.

The UNSW CASualty crew - a combined team with members from the University of Technology, Sydney - emerged with a first and second placing in two categories in the International RoboCup Rescue League.

In a demanding contest, robots were subjected to a simulated disaster situation - in this case a crashed heavy goods vehicle - and given set first-response tasks.

After taking the Best in Class prize for Autonomy, and runner-up for Mobility, the CASualty team also snared the Innovative Operator Interface Award for innovative use of technology.

UNSW PhD student Raymond Sheh told ABC radio, in an interview from Graz, Austria, that the team's robot had demonstrated the best autonomous search and rescue capabilities.

Team leader Professor Claude Sammut said the result was a great reward for long hours of preparation.

"We've been working at this for a long time and it's really good to get a payoff like this at the end," he told the ABC.

Robocup 2009 was held in Graz from June 29 to July 5.

Media contact: Peter Trute | 02 9385 1933 | p.trute@unsw.edu.au