In recent years autonomous robots, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in particular, are becoming always more important in the context of emergency scenarios, being able to anticipate the actions of human operators and to support them during rescue operations. In this context, the investigation of strategies for the autonomous control of UAVs, for the development of Human-Swarm Interfaces and for the coverage of large areas is crucial. All these aspects have been analyzed within the Italian project PRISMA, and they will be here summarized.