This post was originally produced for Forbes.
Field Innovation Team or FIT is bringing hi-tech into the disaster recovery arena by training responders to use it and developing strategic relationships with technology partners to bring their best to bear when it’s needed most.
FIT, a nonprofit, has been in the game since 2010 and has responded to hurricane Sandy, the Boston Marathon Bombing and the 2014 mudslide in Oso, Washington.
By deploying drones over the mudslide, FIT was able to get a better read on the dangerous topography than would have been possible with manned aircraft and was able to do it without putting any humans at risk.
FIT will be taking its robot petting zoo to SXSW. The collection of robots of all sorts that can be used for one purpose or another in disaster recovery. The petting zoo was first assembled to help entertain and educate kids stuck in the 2014 border crisis as young people from Central America sought refuge in the U.S. in unprecedented numbers.
On Thursday, J…