Picture: U. of California San Diego
The Fire Fighting Robot can be used to explore a building which is on fire. It gathers information about the fire intensity and building structure integrity while looking for survivors.
The robot, that looks like a Segway, uses new image processing techniques which are developed by the Coordinated Robotics Lab. ( part of UCSD) . These techniques enables the robot scout to rapidly explore buildings that are on fire and give rescuers a 3-Dimensional overview of the situation.
The FFR's software creates a 3-D virtual reality map using the stereo images of the structure taken by two cameras and the temperature measurements from its infrared camera. Together with data collected by various other sensors it will then provide valuable information to the firefighters who can assess the state of the building structure and make a plan for their rescue and firefighting activities.
These Fire Fighting Robots will be designed to work together and autonomously which makes the mapping of a fire situation faster and more accurate.
U. of California San Diego
