Thanks to its insulating jacket made of aerogel, the FireDrone can collect and forward data from the scene of a fire during a fire mission, even in extremely hot conditions. Image: Empa
Thanks to its insulating jacket made of aerogel, the FireDrone can collect and forward data from the scene of a fire during a fire mission, even in extremely hot conditions. Image: Empa Researchers from Empa and Imperial College London are developing a heat-resistant drone that can analyze the source of danger at close range in the event of a building or forest fire. This allows firefighters to optimize the strategy of a high-risk operation before entering the danger zone. Where others rush out, they have to go in: Firefighters put themselves in dangerous situations during rescue operations - sometimes right in the midst of a sea of flames. Last year, Swiss fire departments were called out for more than 12,000 firefighting missions. Since temperatures in a burning building can reach lethal levels of around 1,000 degrees Celsius, it is essential to avoid any unnecessary risk. Flying robots could support such missions: Researchers at Empa and Imperial College London are currently developing a heat-resistant drone that can provide initial data from the hot spot.
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