US Navy Firefighting Robot Combat And Douses Real Fire On Ship

The United States Navy firefighting robot, this Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR), successfully completed a significant test. It battled a real fire on the real ship and was effective during its test.

Its programmers through Virginia Tech assisted the two-legged robot to deliver the results. Last fall, the robot had successfully passed through several tests carried out aboard this decommissioned USS Shadwell.

The robot is really a joint project of Virginia Tech and also the US Office of Naval Research. A Virginia Technology spokesperson said that they have purposely held this release of SAFFiR's feat until Wednesday on this week.

The Navy wished to highlight their robot accomplishment at this week's Naval Foreseeable future Force Science & Technology EXPO in Washington, D. C, the location where the robot has been recently unveiled.

The robot is generally known as THOR. In this tests, the robot handled the situation created at USS Shadwell, docked inside Mobile Bay, Albama. The SAFFiR has three vision methods to detect and fight fires and the three systems incorporate stereo cameras, infrared digital camera and laser radar.

The development of the robot has obtained four years. But then also SAFFiR is usually a prototype and it will be, as per this Virginia Tech spokesperson, years before it's deployed. "These robots can work closely with people firefighters without firefighters being directly subjected to steam or heat, fire and also smoke", affirmed Tom McKenna, a plan manager with work of the U.S. Naval Research.

Source:: This above story is based on materials provided by the Uncover Michigan and image credit also.

Read More

Underwater Robots Find Antarctic Sea Ice Is Thicker Than First Thought

Sea ice within the Antarctic may be thicker in comparison with previously thought, according to research published inside the Nature Geoscience journal.

The 1st detailed 3D imagery of Antarctic ice has become released, mapped out by underwater robots effective at reaching areas that were previously too difficult to achieve.

"We can now measure ice in far larger detail and were excited to measure ice as much as 17 metres thick, " claims the study's co-author Dr Jeremy Wilkinson through British Antarctic Survey.

Scientists from the great britain, USA and Australia utilized unmanned underwater vehicles in 2010 and also 2012 to map this thickness of sea ice across several coastal areas of Antarctica.

The researchers found in which, on average, the thickness on the ice beneath sea level had been 1. 4 to 5. 5 metres, with this thickest sea ice measured at 17 metres.

"What this effort does is actually show that observations from AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicle) beneath the ice are possible and there exists a very rich data set you can get from them, " claims Ted Maksym, a WHOI scientist and co-author on the paper.

"This work is an significant step toward making the types of routine measurements we need in order to actually monitor and understand what's happening with all the ice and the large scale changes which are occurring. "

The study's authors say although submarines happen to be used to document Arctic sea-ice thicknesses within previous studies, Antarctic measurements happen to be limited to shipboard observations and also drill holes.

Those limited studies had suggested that a majority of sea ice is thinner than a metre.

Source::
The above story is based on materials provided by the tvnz.co.nz and image credit MailOnline.

Read More