The U.S. Navy unveiled the latest version of its firefighting robot at the Naval Future Force Science & Technology Expo this week, and released a video of the prototype successfully fighting a fire aboard a decommissioned ship.
Developed by the Office of Naval Research in conjunction with professors at Virginia Tech, the Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR) is a 5-foot 3-inch tall, 143-pound humanoid robot equipped with a infrared and laser sensors, which it uses to navigate narrow ship corridors and see through smoke to get closer to fires than would otherwise be safe for sailors.
Upon reaching the source of the blaze, SAFFiR can autonomously manipulate a fire hose to fight blazes at close range before they get out of control.
“We set out to build and demonstrate a humanoid capable of mobility aboard a ship, manipulating doors and fire hoses, and equipped with sensors to see and navigate through smoke,” Office of Naval Research program manager Thomas McKenna said at the expo Wednesday. “The long-term goal is to keep sailors from the danger of direct exposure to fire.”
With the help of a DC-21 quadcopter equipped with sensors and cameras to detect fires, map out an area and transmit the information to SAFFiR, the robot successfully executed a round of tasks it was previously unable to do during tests aboard the decommissioned U.S.S. Shadwell last November.
SAFFiR is currently tele-operated remotely, but engineers are working on implementing language, gesture and artificially intelligent control. After more mobility, sensor and other upgrades, SAFFiR will eventually deploy alongside sailors to create a “hybrid” firefighting team.
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