Robot Fire Extinguisher Unveiled
When you picture a fire extinguisher, you picture the red, cylindrical tank placed on walls in offices, schools and commercial buildings.
Your typical basic fire extinguisher comes in several different varieties, each one designed to tackle specific types of fires, and these varieties have been in place for years.
But in specialist environments, more specifically the U.S Navy’s ships, there will soon be an alternative fire extinguisher available that could not be further removed from the ones we see in our everyday lives.
Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot
If a fire was to break out on a US Navy ship in the future, instead of reaching for the traditional fire extinguisher, people aboard the vessel may instead turn to a fire fighting robot. Named SAFFiR, or Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot the fire fighting robot weighs 143 pounds and stands at 5 feet, 10 inches tall. Possessing infrared stereo vision and laser light detectors, SAFFiR can find people in through thick smoke, open doors, and even operate a hose. These operations are designed to allow the sailors to focus on other, zoolmore pressing tasks, meaning that the efficiency of the ship as a whole is improved as well as providing a first line of defense against dangerous situations.
As well as fighting fires, SAFFiR will also provide other services, such as inspecting the ship for leaks and faults with machinery. If equipment is overheating, for example, the thermal imaging ability of the robot can detect this and alert the appropriate members of staff. When SAFFiR’s ability to use a hose was demonstrated, it was wearing a waterproof jumpsuit – as the robot cannot be housed in the jumpsuit all the time, it cannot be used to extinguish fires, despite possessing the necessary ability to operate a hose. SAFFiR is not fireproof or waterproof, something which will be ironed out during the development stages, as well as a number of other improvements and enhancements that will take place before it is made available to consumers.
While development continues, scientists are hoping to improve SAFFiR’s intelligence, although it will still require orders from a sailor. Communication abilities and battery life will also be developed, eventually creating a robot that will take the first step into dangerous areas to assist humans with combating and surviving fires. The name SAFFiR may sound like a standard acronym, but it is no coincidence that it reads similar to ‘safer’.
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