It was reported in the news, sometime around the end of July, saying that some kind of robots that were initially used for bomb detonation in Afghanistan, recycled to help put down fire in the UK.


Caption: QinetiQ's Fire Bot

You may ask, why not human instead of robots? Well, the answer is fairly simple. The person incharged with operating the service suggest to try not sending human to somewhere extremely dangerous, guess will sacrifice them. Well, this make some sense to me, but can robots replace a human in such condition? Anyway, QinetiQ (the firebots operating firm) suggests that these robbots can be ferried anywhere within the M25 highway in the UK within 3 hours. Therefore, do not feel puzzled when you see these robots anywhere within the M25.


Caption: Fire Bots in operation (in some experiments)

At least 2,500 fire bots were supplied to he British and US govenments throughout their countries since the end of July 2009, and are in operation to assist fire crews in London. These robots are quite special, though providing a small, manoeuvrable machine with thermal-image cameras. Besides that, it was well equipted with the Black Max, which is similar to quad bike that possesses high-pressure water hose, and Brokk 90 to handle heavy-duty digging tasks to remove debris. This project is currently funded by Network Rail, Highways Agency, TFL (Transport for London) and London Fire Brigade.