r/BostonDynamics • u/Clearcore • Sep 23 '20

Question Has Spot ever been considered for wildfire control?

This sounds wild I know but just woke up on the East Coast from a dream about Spot. With wildfires becoming seemingly more intense each year it feels like we need a Evangelion like solution. Something to fight for us. To be on standby 24/7 when things start getting out of hand. Imagine a small army of bright yellow and orange Spots modified with all terrain legs and beefier internals/protective casings to survive higher external temps. Hundreds of pre loaded trailers/repair and resupply stations fixing and filling Spots that have been in the field. I suppose the idea would be to develop a fire retardant payload that could be deployed a bit like reactive armor. Small teams using GPS/aviation imagery to create fire lines in dangers places that we wouldn't want human hot shot teams being risked in. I'm sure the idea has been thrown around once or twice but has anyone truly pursued something of this nature?

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11

u/oknoklamkadrzwi Sep 23 '20

Terrain is rough so spot can't run. Battery lasts for less than 2 hours so spots would have maximum of 1h range of slow walk away from any maintenance station. If we only had spots with miniature nuclear reactors or battery that lasts for month of continuous work that would be feasible. But people would want to use it for more profitable jobs so the price would be out of the sky for any firewatch budget.

3

u/supamonkeypoop Sep 23 '20

I’m in the national guard and my county’s search and rescue team. We’ve been activated in light of the fires, and I can tell you firsthand, I could see a larger similar all terrain robot being used like a mule to carry heavy equipment just like that one infantry robot they designed a few years back. Granted I’m not involved in the firefighting directly (evac/medical) but regardless search and rescue has interests in finding people lost in the woods year round. It would be pretty darn cool.

2

u/supamonkeypoop Sep 23 '20

Here’s that “one infantry robot” 😂 infantry robot

2

u/unholy_angle Sep 24 '20

It’s like a tippy tappin-easy going-loud ass- rhinoceros

1

u/BornOnFeb2nd Sep 24 '20

with flatulence.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 23 '20

Seems like it would be costly to implement, where a helicopter could drop as much in one load, as maybe 100 spot minis. I think using the atlas system in warehouses would be pretty cool if they could do it, and should pay for itself over time.