Future Firefighters May Be Guided By "Robots On Reins"

Zothecula writes When firefighters need to enter smoke-filled buildings to conduct search or rescue, they frequently suffer from low visibility and often need to feel their way along walls or follow ropes reeled out by the lead firefighter. With a limited supply of oxygen carried by each firefighter, being slowed by the inability to see can severely limit their capacity to carry out duties in these environments. Now researchers from King's College London and Sheffield Hallam University have developed a prototype robot assistant for firefighters that can help guide them through even the thickest smoke.

Comments

Not so useful

[NotDrWho]

Current robots have a hard time navigating even the most basic terrain. It seems highly unlikely to me that a ground-based robot would be of any use in a burning building full of completely unpredictable and changing debris, tight spaces, random layout, etc. I doubt the prototype shown could even climb a stair, much less climb over debris.

A very small "robot" controlled by a human (aka a glorified RC helicopter) may be of some use in surveying the situation, though.

This is silly

[muhula]

They don't need a guide dog... too slow, hard to maintain, and move around. An infrared HUD would be perfect for this

Re:This is silly

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking as a firefighter, the current generation of LWIR cameras offer excellent vision in smoke, durability, and good battery life. They are, however, not hands free so a HUD is an interesting idea, but keep in mind anything I take with me has to survive and perform in excess of 600F. Additionally, in the quest for FOV, current cameras have some fisheye distortion that makes it difficult to judge distance - firefighters have learned to live with that trade as best we can.