14 DAY TRIAL // Humanoid robots haven't started to be used anywhere, except maybe as props and doubles in films, because locomotion hasn't been figured out. Now, though, some inventors think they could pull off a firefighter.
Firefighting is one of the bravest occupations, as it demands much courage and the ability to stay level-headed under pressure.
Soon, though, robots might start taking over that job, if the folks at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have their way.
They've invented the SAFFiR (Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot), which can walk through flames, tread where man cannot.
Contrary to what people think, it's not so easy to make a fire-proof robot. It's not that easy to make a fire-proof anything, no matter what movies show.
The secret was a specially developed high temperature polyetheretherketone (PEEK)-like phthalonitrile-resin, which can be molded to any shape and stays solid in temperatures of up to 500 degrees Celsius / 932 degrees Fahrenheit.
SAFFiR will soon be tested for its ability to move through obstacle courses and lifting equipment, even operating a fire hose.
If the tests at the ex-USS Shadwell (retired ship used by the Navy specifically for fire simulations) go well, SAFFiR might be deployed in the field in 20 years or so. On ships if nowhere else.