The fire brigade serving the city of Mumbai, India, Mumbai fire brigade is piloting research and development on the efficiency of its firefighting robot that is considered as an alternative to human firefighters.
The body of the robot is made from aluminium sheets which can combat the temperature of up to 700 centigrade so that this robot can be used in situations that may prove too perilous for humans to confront.
Now, based on results, the practical use of the robot will be determined by the fire squad and decide, if they further want to order more robots in the future. However, the price of one robot is 88 lakhs and has been used to extinguish the fire in several locations in the city including Bandra and Borivali East.
Hemant Parab, the Chief Fire Officer, said, “We do not take the robot with us at every fire incident, we take it only if we think it’s necessary and use it to its full capacity. As of now, we have only one robot, but we are thinking of having more robots in future. Currently, we are conducting research and development on the robot as per our practical experience through which we can decide if we want to add any new features in it.”
“We did not use the robot in the recent Tardeo fire incident because it took place on the 19th floor and it would be difficult to take the robot by stairs till that floor. Moreover, when we have access to that area there is no need to use the robot because it is usually used to enter places where the firefighters cannot reach. During the Tardeo fire incident, we used a few pipelines of water which was enough to douse the fire, therefore it depends on the situation if we need to use the robot or not,” added Parab.
In 2019, the aluminium bodied robot was first noticed during a massive fire that broke out in the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) building in Bandra. The robot helped the firefighters extinguish huge flames.
Following the commissioning of the robot, Mumbai became the first city in India to have a robot for firefighting. It can nozzle 3,000 litres of water per minute and has four cameras, one of which can capture thermal images to support firefighters to detect people trapped in smoke and fire.
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