TAMPA University of South Florida scientists took a miniature approach to finding survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

Flooding and devastation in Louisiana and Mississippi slowed rescue operations, so a USF team turned to small, remote-controlled aircraft to look for people trapped in hard-to-find places.

Scientists from the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue last week employed two unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with cameras. Officials are calling it the first use of UAVs in a disaster.

"You put this equipment in the back of your rescue vehicle, and it takes 10 minutes to set up," said Robin Murphy, director of the USF center. "These technologies are becoming mature because of how they're used in the military."

A 4-foot, fixed wing vehicle, essentially a model airplane, provided video from 100 feet to 1,000 feet, and its infrared camera could detect people under the cloak of darkness.

The battery-powered craft is launched simply by throwing it into the air, and it needs only 50 feet to land.

Another craft, a helicopter called T-Rex, offered video from a ceiling of 250 feet. Its camera gave rescue officials views into windows and other recessed areas that were hidden to larger aircraft and people on the ground.

"It can move very close to a structure and land on a roof and look in windows," Murphy said.

The Louisiana State University Fire Emergency Training Institute last week asked USF officials for their assistance. The robot center has been focusing on developing and testing small UAVs since Hurricane Charley struck southwest Florida last year.

The technology is funded by the National Science Foundation and a consortium of universities and technology companies.