Experiments with robots suggest that the real danger during an evacuation lies in the pushing and shoving, not in the speed

A study conducted using robots demonstrates that moving quickly while avoiding contact is core topic achieving more efficient and safer evacuations. The research, published in *Physical Review Letters*— reference letter international reference letter journal—was conducted by Marta Grasa, Laciel Alonso-Llanes, Angel Garcimartín, and Iker Zuriguel of the University of Navarra. Until now, safety manuals have stated that running toward an exit caused bottlenecks, delayed the evacuation, and increased the number of injuries. This new research that the real danger lies not in speed, but in the pushing and shoving and the physical pressure that builds up near the doors.

The researchers programmed a swarm of robots to evacuate a room through narrow exits. When the robots avoided contact with one another, increasing their speed consistently reduced the escape time. As Marta Grasa explains, the results indicate that speed is not a drawback: “If the robots avoid contact one another, the faster they go, the better.” She also emphasizes that “what really matters are collisions: if we let the robots push each other, the greater the force with which they do so, the worse the result.” 

However, despite these encouraging signs, the researchers caution that these conclusions cannot be directly applied to real-life emergencies. “In a real evacuation, many other factors come into play, both physical (people of different sizes with varying strength, the occurrence of falls, etc.) and psychological (different motivations, reactions, etc.).” What the work does indicate work a possible direction for future programs of study: in highly competitive scenarios, it appears that the problem may lie more in physical contact (pushing, shoving, jostling to get out first) than in the speed at which a pedestrian can move toward a blocked exit,” suggests Ángel Garcimartín, Full Professor Applied Physics and researcher study. Furthermore, he concludes that thanks to this research ,“more efficient evacuation protocols or safer spaces could be designed.”