SAFFiR: A Humanoid Robot To Assist The Navy On Firefighting Missions

A group of engineering students from Virginia Institute of technology have developed a humanoid robot called SAFFiR which can help the sailors of the navy in many ways on their mission. It took almost four years for the students to develop a working prototype of Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR). The prototype was unveiled by the Naval Future Force Science & Technology Expo where it was divulged that successful tests of the prototype have already been carried out on a decommissioned naval vessel last fall.

saffir-robot

Since fire is the most common hazard on a navy vessel, SAFFiR has been developed mainly for handling the fire problems. The robot is of the size of an adult human being. It weighs 64 kgs, is five feet and ten inches tall and has two ‘legs’ and two ‘hands’. The legs can be used for movement on the ships while the hands are used for opening doors and picking up and handling the firefighting instruments. In the event of a fire, SAFFiR can successfully where the fire has occurred and can spray the water from the hose.

Human beings have their limitations, thus the advantages of having a non-human entity manage to do human-like tasks especially during critical emergency are tremendous. The upper limit of SAFFiR to withstand the flames of the fire and the heat generated from it is more than human beings. Also, it has a pair of infrared eyes which will allows it to ‘see’ even through smoke. The robot can accurately judge potential victims of accidents and distances to them thanks to the Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) technology.


Viktor Orekhov, a team member of the students who developed SAFFiR said that the intention behind creating such a robot was not to replace the human beings on the vessel but to assist them, especially in difficult times. The robot can work either independently or can be controlled by human beings. The features that can be expected from the robot in future is surplus memory and better and faster sensory equipment.

Via: Navy's New Fire Fighting Robot Can Take The Heat | Tech Times

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