The News-Gazette
HOOPESTON, Ill. — At 400 pounds and only 2 feet tall, one steel-clad firefighter got some curious looks, arriving at the scene of a fire in a used-tire processing facility in Hoopeston on Wednesday.
But after dragging a 2-inch fire hose into the collapsed building and watering down hot spots that were too dangerous for humans, this robot firefighter had people wanting to take its picture.
It was the first time the firefighting robot from Purdue University had been deployed to a working fire in the United States, according to Purdue Homeland Security Institute Director Eric Dietz. The robot was developed by a Korean company, and over the last year, Purdue students and researchers have been perfecting the robot that’s designed to enter fires that are too hot, too poisonous, too smoky or too collapsed for human firefighters.
Full story: Firefighting robot helps extinguish blaze from inside of ruined building