Uncrewed Systems Technology 049 - April/May 2023

72 Insight | UGVs algorithms have been largely replaced with Eurolink’s, with only the locomotion algorithms for the ESCs in the legs being retained. That means its AI can also be migrated to other quadrupedal UGVs on request, such as Boston Dynamics’ Spot, Ghost Robotics’ Vision 60, or ANYbotics’ ANYmal ( UST 40, October/ November 2021). Firefighting While none of the applications discussed so far are easywork, if removing people fromdangerous jobs is themainmotivator for UGVdevelopers, thenmost newUGVs ought to be aimed at firefighting. Being a firefighter remains one of the most hazardous occupations in theworld. For example, one recent study found it to be themost dangerous job in the UK, withmore than 47,000 injuries suffered by British firefighters from2018 to 2023. At the time of writing, the FFBOTS Industrial Robots Assembling Company in the UAE was the latest organisation to develop a UGV for mitigating the high rate of firefighter injuries and fatalities. Its FFB-FW8000 has a top-mounted extinguisher cannon that can be configured for spraying water at a nominal rate of 4800 or 7800 litres/minute, up to a peak of 8000 litres/minute. It has a total weight of 1000 kg and a payload capacity of 200 kg, along with four apertures for connecting water hoses at its rear. It has a top speed of 3 kph, torque being more important than speed, and can climb stairs at an incline of up to 30o. It operates on a pair of tracks powered by 3 kWmotors. Architecturally it bears similarities to firefighting UGVs such as the Tecdron TC800-FF ( UST 26, June/July 2019) and the Thermite RS3 from Textron subsidiary Howe & Howe ( UST 35, December 2020/ January 2021). Like these vehicles, it has a largely metallic body for robustness against the harsh environments it needs to be used in, and features a winch on its lower front for added utility. The company advises using the FFB-FW8000 in a range of particularly dangerous scenarios such as ammunition store explosions, nuclear reactor fires, and burning buildings which are close to collapse. Accordingly, the range of its control and telemetry link is 1000 m, and for situations where human firefighters are normally limited to spraying water from a distance, it can go in, deliver close-up, real-time intelligence via a 360o visual array of six cameras around its April/May 2023 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Eurolink’s Doberbot can recognise objects such as knives to assist in remote alerts and video analytics for police forces (Courtesy of Eurolink Systems) The FFBOTS FFB-FW8000 is designed for close-up firefighting in conditions too dangerous for human firefighters, such as ammunition store explosions and nuclear reactor fires (Courtesy of FFBOTS)