The South Korean fire department recently welcomed four new unmanned firefighting robots donated by Hyundai Motor Group. They will be specially used for early disposal and reconnaissance of high-risk fire scenes to reduce firefighter casualties and improve firefighting and rescue efficiency.
According to statistics from the National Fire Protection Agency of South Korea, 1,788 firefighters have been injured or killed in various fire scenes in the past ten years. This number has prompted the fire department to accelerate the introduction of high-tech equipment to "explore paths" for front-line personnel in extreme environments. To this end, Hyundai Motor Group will provide one electric unmanned fire-fighting robot to each of two fire stations in South Korea in the first batch, and will later deliver one to two other fire stations, making this new equipment the first to be put into use in four fire stations.
The unmanned fire-fighting robot put into use this time is based on the HR-Sherpa multi-purpose unmanned platform developed by Hyundai Rotem Company. The company is part of the Hyundai Motor Group and is mainly engaged in the production of rail vehicles, military equipment and large industrial equipment. On this basis, Hyundai has strengthened and modified the platform specifically for fire scenarios, giving it the ability to extinguish fires remotely, traverse complex terrain, and operate autonomously in high-temperature and high-smoke environments.
In terms of fire scene operation capabilities, this robot is equipped with a high-pressure water cannon that can launch clustered water jets or large-scale water mist. It can not only carry out fixed-point attacks on fire sources, but also be used to suppress and cool down the environment in a wide range. The vehicle body is equipped with a dual visible light and infrared camera system that can observe the environment through thick smoke. It is used to transmit images back in real time to provide on-site commanders with key information such as the fire intensity, temperature and trapped personnel inside the building. Its tires are made of high-temperature resistant materials and are equipped with six independent wheel motors. Each wheel of the vehicle can move independently, thereby maintaining high maneuverability on rubble, obstacles and irregular ground.
In order to maintain stable operation in high-temperature fire scenes, the robot also has a built-in self-spray cooling system, which can form a water curtain "shield" around the vehicle body. Hyundai said that when the outside temperature reaches about 800 degrees Celsius, the system can control the vehicle's own temperature within the range of 50 to 60 degrees Celsius, significantly extending the working time of the equipment in extreme environments. In addition, the robot is equipped with a self-illuminating hose reel to provide lighting and guidance in dark environments. It can not only provide visual identification for firefighters to enter or exit, but also indicate a safe path when searching for injured people.
In terms of maneuverability, this unmanned firefighting robot is equipped with an advanced assisted autonomous driving system, which can sense the surrounding terrain and plan its route independently. It has a top speed of 50 kilometers per hour, can cross roadblocks with a maximum height of 300 mm, and can cope with maximum longitudinal slopes of 60% and cross slopes of 40%, which means it can perform tasks in and around buildings with a high risk of collapse and broken road surfaces.
In terms of tactical use, the fire department plans to let these robots enter burning buildings ahead of firefighters. On the one hand, they will use water cannons to participate in initial fire control. On the other hand, they will use sensors and camera equipment to collect key information such as fire development, structural stability and the location of trapped personnel inside the building. These real-time data help commanders develop more accurate fire-fighting and rescue plans externally, and reduce the time personnel spend in dangerous areas that may collapse at any time.
Hyundai Motor Group places the project within a broader trend of “robotization of hazardous conditions.” In the field of energy and security, similar applications already include autonomous electric coal mine transport trucks put into use in Mongolia to replace personnel in driving tasks in high-risk mining areas; and demining robots developed by Croatian company DOK-ING to perform explosive clearance operations in war zones or legacy minefields. In addition, Chinese manufacturer Yushu Technology has also launched a four-legged "robot dog" equipped with a water cannon for use in firefighting and rescue scenarios, demonstrating the possibility of a variety of robot platforms entering extreme environments.
"The unmanned firefighting robots we donated embody the core technologies of Hyundai Motor Group and are new forms of travel created with the common goal of 'life-saving technology.'" said Chung Eui-sun, executive chairman of Hyundai Motor Group. "We hope that they can become trustworthy comrades, entering the most dangerous scenes before others, and protecting the safety of firefighters."
Kim Seung-yong, acting director of the National Fire Protection Agency of South Korea, emphasized that the value of this platform lies not only in its heat resistance and fire-extinguishing capabilities, but also in its potential as a "physical artificial intelligence" to perform tasks at real disaster sites. In extreme environments that are inaccessible to firefighters, robots will collect and accumulate a large amount of actual combat data to continuously learn and evolve, gradually developing into a highly intelligent disaster response platform. He said that this will open a new stage of human-machine collaboration, in which humans and robots will each exert their own strengths and make up for their shortcomings, which is expected to bring a "paradigm change in the application of artificial intelligence" to the firefighting field.
Hyundai revealed that the next step will be to further explore the deep embedding of artificial intelligence technology into this type of unmanned firefighting platform, so that its autonomous identification, path planning, target judgment and collaborative operation capabilities in complex disaster situations will continue to be enhanced. As more diversified robotic equipment enters firefighting and other high-risk industries, the working model of front-line workers may undergo structural changes - from workers directly on the fire line to gradually shifting to "system operators" who command and manage intelligent equipment in safe areas.
Currently, these four unmanned fire-fighting robots will first be used on a pilot basis in four fire stations in South Korea. If the operating results meet expectations in the future, they are expected to be promoted on a larger scale, providing a reference example for safe production in high-risk industries around the world.