Firefighting Robots

Robots are becoming more human like everyday and they are increasingly taking on jobs and tasks that used to be done by humans. Can you see where this could be leading? A robot filled society perhaps? We already depend heavily on technology in our daily lives and our dependency on it is growing all the time. Are robots the next the step? They certainly make our lives easier by doing mundane tasks that we are to busy to be bothered with, maybe like cleaning a house for example. More complex tasks range from building our cars to fixing space shuttles and satellites out in space. The point here is that they benefit people in many facets of society already and that it is only evolving. Of course the military has their uses for them as well and in fact much of the time new technologies are used and tested in military applications first before making their way into the population. Think of a robotic soldier for instance and one day those same robotic soldiers could be converted to work on your local police force. How does that sound, robots patrolling the streets? Or how about in this case a robotic firefighter.

Well you can add another lifelike robot to the military’s rapidly expanding android army. This one is, of all things, a mechanical firefighter. And not only can it climb ladders like its flesh-and-blood counterparts, it’s designed to interact with human handlers in a kind of human/robot bucket brigade. The U.S. Navy's firefighting robot "Autonomous" or (SAFFIR) for short. The robot utilizes a system called "force control" which allows its A.I. to tell its motor to exert a specific amount of force in a certain direction. This combined with titanium springs designed to simulate a human tendon.

The Autonomous Firefighting Robot, there's more to it than just its legs. They intend to develop algorithms that will help this robot to move and make decisions autonomously, while still being able to understand directions and hand signals. I have to ask, if it can make its own decision why does it need to take directions? Firefighting robots in the Navy? It won't be long now before they are fighting the fires in our cities. Although the robot is still a ways off from being used in real world situations though a significant test will take place late 2013.