Since Boston Dynamic first teased its BigDog robot in 2004, four-legged hound automatons have exploded in popularity. There are now dozens of robot dogs in development, ranging from military and surveillance applications to companionship models that can carry groceries and talk back to their human owners.
One of the most distinctive uses for a quadrupedal robot we’ve seen yet is coming out of China, where the company Unitree has been hard at work developing robodogs that can assist firefighters at the site of dangerous blazes.
Called “Fire Rescue” units, the robots are essentially beefed up models of the Unitree B2. According to Unitree’s website, they Fire Rescue platform allows public safety officials to kit out their B2s with modular components, allowing them to spray water and foam, fight wildfires with air cannons, transmit data and video from inside burning structures, and carry equipment for rescuers.
Trial footage of the B2 Fire Rescue bot in action quickly made the rounds on Chinese and Western social media. The short clip shows a firefighter attach a high-pressure hose to the back of a unit, which springs up and advances toward a brush fire.
Controlled by a teleoperator, the device positions itself in front of the fire, dousing it in a stream of water.
On the Chinese-language app RedNote, one user commented that “this is the direction of technological development: to help people, not replace them.”
Whether these units make their way to the rest of the world remains to be seen. On Reddit, Western netizens wondered if the devices would weigh enough to withstand the high pressure typical of US handlines, the hoses firefighters carry by hand to directly attack fires.
“I’m hoping dog has some heavy weight, but if not you’ll need several dogs to hold down the hose,” one Redditor commented. “Those things ain’t no joke, the pressure is insane.”
According to the Unitree website, the B2 Fire Rescue module is rated for a water flow rate of 40 liters per second, though it’s not known what kind of water flow or pressure is used in the video. (For reference, the Fire Department of New York uses an angled hose nozzle for high-rise fires which flows at 16.7 liters per second.)
Either way, it’s a fascinating look at a new use for robot dogs, which until now were looking more like weapons of war than tools for the good of humanity.
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