Italy built a fire engine in the tunnel

New Italian robots are capable of detecting the origin of fires

Italy has built robots against fires in tunnels (similar to the 1999 fire that killed 39 people stranded in the Mount Blanc tunnel), Italian news agency ANSA said yesterday.

The robots were on display at the European Robotics Conference in Palermo, southern Italy on March 16. They shoot high-pressure faucets into the hottest spots in the fire, using thermal cameras to reach the target.

Bruno Siciliano, president of the International Association for Automation and Robotics and computer systems hoarder at the University of Naples, said the robots are capable of moving on handrails mounted above or below the tunnel.

" The idea of making these robots came to us after the Mount Blanc fire ," Siciliano said. These prototypes are currently being tested at a tunnel in Pomigliano d'Arco near Naples.

Siciliano says that Italy and Japan are working on new ways to fight fires in tunnels and rescue earthquake victims.

Similar robotic firefighters were first used in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

VY