The U.S. Navy is working on a line of human-like robots that will be used to fight fires on board ships.
The robot, called Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR), has two designs that will be tested on the ex-USS Shadwell, a decommissioned amphibious landing ship that the Navy uses to test ship-bound fire suppression systems, according to ITProPortal.
The SAFFiR robots were designed by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Virginia Tech, and the University of Pennsylvania. They will use the same equipment used by human firefighters, and will be sent into dangerous and inaccessible fires to test their abilities.
The robots are expected to be able to balance, turn valves, pick up and drag a fire hose and jet water on a fire, BBC reported. They also have a vision system that can be used to look for survivors.
"The human-sized autonomous robot is capable of finding and suppressing shipboard fires and working seamlessly with human fire-fighters," the Office of Naval Research's website says.
The website added that the machine should be "able to withstand higher heat for longer periods than human fire-fighters."
Scientists are currently only working to make sure the robots are able to stand up straight, ITProPortal reported.
"This research focuses on the integration of spatial orientation and the shipboard mobility capabilities of future shipboard robots," said Dr. Thomas McKenna, managing program officer for ONR Computational Neuroscience and Biorobotics programs. "The goal of this research is to develop the mutual interaction between humanoid robotic firefighter and the rest of the firefighting team."
One of the robots is built at almost five feet (1.5 meters), and the other robot will be built to be a little taller and have more advanced features, BBC reported.
The Navy's Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR) is holding preliminary tests for the robots, ITProPortal reported. Alan C. Shultz, director of LASR, said the facility is one of the best places to test the robots.
"The LASR facility, with its unique simulated multi-environments and state-of-the-art labs allows us to 'test out' our ideas before we go to the field," Schultz said. "In essence, our facility gives us a cost saving method for testing concepts and ideas before we go to the expense of field trials."
