Firefighting
-
We've already seen robots that are made to help put out fires, but SmokeBot is a little different. Designed by a consortium led by Sweden's Örebro University, it's intended to perform reconnaissance missions in low-visibility smoke-filled buildings, creating maps that firefighters can follow.
-
When the elevator is out, firefighters could find themselves having to carry heavy equipment up many flights of stairs. Such a scenario has prompted Trigen Automotive to develop Auberon, a mechanical exoskeleton designed to take the strain out of carrying emergency equipment up to tower-top fires.
-
Researchers have come up with a “fire alarm wallpaper” which can detect a house fire, but also sound an alarm and even help to restrict the spread of fire. It's made from hydroxyapatite, which occurs in bone and teeth. However, the wallpaper’s real smarts are down to an ink-based on graphene oxide.
-
SAFFiR, the US Navy's experimental firefighting robot, may be in for some competition. That's because researchers at IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia have successfully tested a new-and-improved version of the WALK-MAN humanoid robot, which is designed to support firefighters.
-
Air tankers are an important part of the fire-fighting arsenal, but their current reliance on human pilots severely limits their potential – so Drone America and Thrush Aircraft have teamed up to develop the world's first autonomous air tanker.
-
Sikorsky has announced that is will repurpose 10 ex-US military Black Hawk helicopters for aerial firebombing operations and year-round emergency and disaster relief in Australia and New Zealand.
-
Dubai's firefighters have flirted with the idea of firefighting jetpacks before - but now, with Project Dolphin, they're looking at a fleet of jet ski-based quick response units that can fight seaside fires from on top of a 30-foot high waterjet-propelled hoverboard.
-
Imagine you're rushing through a burning building that's filled with smoke. It would be easy to get turned around, not knowing which way to go in order to get back out. That's a real risk faced by firefighters on a regular basis, and it's why Capt. Jeff Dykes created the Northern Star.
-
The question of how to track and locate first responders in an involved structure that blocks radio signals has long frustrated firefighters. Could a NASA electromagnetic tracker help them rescue lives without risking theirs?
-
As flexible, absorbent and versatile as they are, manufacturing hydrogels can be costly and hard to scale up. Now, scientists at Stanford have developed new hydrogels made from common and inexpensive natural materials, which are easily adjusted for a range of applications.
-
NASA's JPL and Homeland Security are working together to take some of the load off firefighters' shoulders, by developing a new machine learning system that collects data on the emergency environment, and feeds relevant information and recommendations to the responders.
-
The Sea-Can is a shipping container full of fire retardant foam, with a spray pump that's activated and powered by the heat of the fire itself. Great idea from serial inventor and renaissance man Eddie Paul.
Load More