US Navy develop creepy firefighting robot

[Locutus]

US Navy's Creepy Firefighting Robot in Development - YouTube

Created in partnership with the US Office for Naval Research, Octavia is designed to interact with people through a combination of speech and visual recognition.

Once directed to a fire by a human, the strange-looking robot uses two infrared cameras to 'see' the blaze, then shoots compressed air and water, stored on its back, at the flames through a hose.

The scientists are developing the technology in the hope that it will help humans to help tackle fires, which are particularly dangerous on-board ships.

Although the footage suggests the design is currently lacking the responsiveness necessary to help in a genuine emergency, the robot is said to be a work in progress.

According to the scientists behind Octavia, particular attention is being paid to improving the naturalness of interactions with humans and robot's ability to recognise the way fire spreads so it is better able to extinguish blazes.



Video: US Navy develop creepy firefighting robot - Telegraph

 

[petros]

Patience is a virtue but dealing with a pokey robot would just piss me off.

 

[The Old Medic]

That is potentially a GREAT resource for both ship and land based firefighters. Many firemen have been killed in such dangerous conditions, and having a robot that could go into the most hazardous areas would be a great innovation.

My great-uncle was a Winnipeg fireman, who died as a result of severe frostbite to both feet and legs, sustained when fighting a major fire in downtown Winnipeg in December 1907. He died in January, 1908, and his only child died 3 weeks later. They are buried next to each other in Elmwood Cemetery in Winnipeg.

I fought for 3 years to get my great-uncle included in the listing of firemen that died in the line of duty, on the Winnipeg Fire Museum web page. You can now find him listed on their "Last Alarm" page, John Hector Stewart.

 

[taxslave]

Good start. Especially for hazardous environments.