London's Robotic Fire Brigade

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday July 28, 2009 @10:30AM from the playing-with-fire dept.

dustpan writes "The BBC has a story up about a quartet of robotic fire fighters that the London Fire Brigade is testing and with which have been achieving 'tremendous results.' The robots were developed by QinetiQ, which is a defense contractor. The LFB has been testing the units since last year and the machines are primarily used in fires involving acetylene canisters. The group commander for hazardous materials and environmental protection with the LFB says that the robots have cut the time to resolve these potential hazards from 24 hours to 3. From the article: 'Three years ago we were shutting down parts of London for over 24 hours every other week. Now it doesn't even make the news.'"

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I, for one by Mr.+Freeman · 2009-07-28 17:18 · Score: 0, Redundant

Welcome our new fire-fighting robot overlords.

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Great Comedy from the Brit's, Thanks by LifesABeach · 2009-07-28 18:01 · Score: 0, Redundant

Interesting concept. Rubber Tires, Rubber Hoses; all I could think of was the pile of slag that the fire would make. I spit Tea all over my keyboard when the Robot carrying the Welding tank drops it and the pressure guage falls/breaks off. If that tank had been pressured, THEN there would have been torpedo fire, about 20 to 100 feet from the demo 'drop' site.