Researchers at Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute (RI) have developed an autonomous drone designed to fight wildfires. This solution would provide firefighters with situational awareness, as they can range over thousands of acres and can quickly adapt to rapid, weather-related changes in direction as well as intensity.
The drone relies on multiple sensors to avoid branches, power lines and other obstructions hidden in the smoke. When this data is combined with artificial intelligence techniques, it’s capable of navigating safely through wildfires, even with incomplete information. How so? AI basically generates “de-smoked” 3D reconstructions of homes or other structures, along with the vegetation surrounding them, as well as what the buildings are made of.
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As of now, the military-grade drones used by those fighting wildfires are high-altitude aircraft that fly far above the trees. They can’t fly low because they can’t see through smoke. We want to fly just above the trees or even below the canopy. Not only are we flying through the trees, but we also want to provide a 3D reconstruction — basically a digital twin — of what’s going on,” said Andrew Jong, CMU Researcher.
