Meet Your Robotic Firefighters

The makers of Iraq's robot bomb squad are looking to automate firefighting, too. Popular Mechanics has the scoop:

*A team of robots built by London-based Qinetiq has recently started responding to a very specific threat: fires involving Acetylene gas.
When (human) firefighters detect or even suspect the presence of these explosive cylinders in a blaze, they generally cordon off the area for up to 24 hours—then wait for the fireworks. But when the hazard zone covers a rail line, this can cause major train delays. So while it might not sound as heroic as plunging into a burning orphanage, a robotic solution could save money (thousands of dollars per hour, according to Qinetiq), and prevent human responders from walking into a potential bomb.
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*Over a test period of six months, Qinetiq has been commissioned to deploy a robo trio to Acetylene-related incidents. A
Talon robot, like the ones used for Explosive Ordinance Disposal in Iraq, assesses the situation using thermal and video cameras. A much larger, construction-oriented bot, the 2160-pound Brokk 90 can then tear through walls or shove vehicles out the way. And if it looks like
Acetylene cylinders are present, the ATV-size Black Max can use a high-pressure hose to douse the area. All of these robots are remote-operated, with no autonomous capabilities.
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Gizmag implies that the bots have been used for more than just tests;
"so far the ROV [remote-operated vehicle] response team has been deployed on six occasions." But doesn't offer much explanation beyond that.

Naturally, Qinetiq's bot-makers aren't the only ones looking to build robo-firemen. Trinity College holds an annual contest for roboticists to work up new firefighting models. And,* Pop Mech* notes, "a German university is developing a larger—and more disturbing—model, the millipede-inspired
OLE."/p>

Dozens of these roughly human-size robot bugs, complete with mechanical feelers and the ability to curl into a ball when threatened, would patrol forests, and attempt to put out fires before they escalate. The OLE design hasn’t been field-tested, but considering its outright nightmarish qualities, perhaps it’s for the best that autonomous fire-bots are far from mature.