Fighting fires

The middle of the ocean might be the ultimate area you'll assume to locate firefighting robots, but it really is exactly where the U.S. military would like to ship those flame-quelling machines. In February 2015, the navy unveiled its firefighting bot, SAFFiR (quick for Shipboard autonomous Firefighting robotic), which the Navay hopes to hire in the near future aboard ships at sea.

evolved by using researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the humanoid bot stands nearly 6 feet (1.eight meters) tall and is prepared with thermal-imaging technology that enable the robot to stumble on heat and notice via smoke. It also has a laser range-finder that permits the system to map out the distance between itself and an object. The bot can preserve a hearth hose, too, this means that it cannot handiest hit upon fires or capability sources of fires, but additionally positioned out flames need to the want rise up.

The bot isn't meant to replace human firefighters, however ought to assist them, stated the researchers who developed the machine. earlier than the bot sees any actual action, the researchers ought to improve its intelligence, communications capabilities, velocity, computing power and battery existence, they stated. considering that it took four years to get the bot prepared for its first public demonstration, chances are slender that SAFFiR could be deployed in 2016. but maintain a watch out for this firefighting robot in the years yet to come.