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Robot firefighter

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Really promising. Will possibly save firemans life too. And some people say Japan has a “labor shortage”! While there are creative scientists and engineers, Japan will innovate its way through this problem with robots and AI.

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Looks like some kids attempt to create a fancy dress R2D2 with tin foil. I reckon it'll end up in the Fire engine museum so that people in 100 years can marvel at how we were able to cope with fires back in 2019....

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Excellent.  added bonus is that it won't steal underwear nor engage in peeping tom activities.

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As a former (and third generation) volunteer firefighter, I can see at least half a dozen ways that thing is nothing more than an expensive toy that won't work or do half of what the caption proposes it can do in a real fire.

Shall we begin?

1- The lenses on both sets of optical sensors are unshielded, and as such are sensitive to heat.

2- Who in the world decided that the control cable to the upper, and I assume, moveable sensor head, would again be unshielded and on the outside of the aperture arm? Even if that thing's wrapped in Kevlar or Nomex, the wires inside are going to be exposed, their individual cable insulation's going to melt, and the whole damn thing's going to short out.

3- Why are there at least 3 adjustment knobs that are made of black plastic? You plan on sending something into a fire that has plastic in it? Because that's what "going into blazes" means, not just a Search and Rescue bot.

4- The combination of treads and wheels is overly complicated, liable to jam in the muck and mess of a real fire. Also, those are pneumatic tires, which would be absolutely worthless in a high temperature fire.

5- What is the purpose of that hook on the arms next to the moveable optical head? It also looks like its made of plastic, and in fact came from Daiso.

6- Actually, quite a bit of the upper tubing looks like its PVC.

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