As various regions across the U.S. and around the world deal with devastating wildfires, innovation is continuing with new tools to help incident commanders and line crews to quickly control fire while saving lives.
Chinese robot manufacturer Guoxing Intelligent recently unveiled its latest tool for firefighters, extending its current firefighting robot lineup. Since 2004, the company has been building systems including firefighting robots, security robots, and military robots.
Firefighting robots can provide support in a variety of situations by going where it is too dangerous for human firefighters. This includes situations where smoke or toxic chemicals would make it dangerous for people to get close enough to suppress a fire.
Guoxing robots can all be teleoperated to keep firefighters a safe distance from a conflagration. The autonomy features of Guoxing robot vary, depending the use case.
Other robots in the Guoxing product line include several fire-suppression systems that manage water dispersion when firefighting.
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Guoxing KT-500 built to fight fire in remote areas
The newest member of the Guoxing lineup is the KT-500, a machine designed to quickly masticate or chew through thick brush, undergrowth, and small trees. Firefighters can quickly deploy the unit in the field to help create firebreaks in forested areas and remote locations.
The machine uses a double-tracked drive to position the unit to crush trees up to 100 mm (3.9 in.) in diameter long with shrubs, grass, and other flammable vegetation. This allows for the rapid creation of fire isolation zones.
Powered by a diesel engine, the device has a fuel tank capacity of at least 25 liters (6.6 gal.). It can traverse terrain at 10 kph (6.2 mph).
The overall dimensions of the unit are: 310 x 140 x 130 cm (122 x 55.1 x 51.1 in.). The unit weighs 1,630 kg (3,600 lb.), making it towable on trailer with any midsize pickup truck.
Agencies such as California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, currently stage and deploy large bulldozers during the wildfire season. These machines are used to clear large fire breaks in wilderness areas.
However, the bulldozers have to be transported to the site — often in remote areas — by 18-wheeler semis, which limits the response speed and accessibility in some situations. A smaller machine such as the KT-500 can provide faster deployment and quicker access for many situations.
The KT-500 robot is designed to help wildfire crews create a fire break to contain wildfires. | Credit: Guozing Intelligent
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