Roberto First to fire

Fire-induced winds are a major challenge for precision drone operations. Here's how Roberto is designed to handle them:

• Certified Wind Resistance: According to technical standards for firefighting drones, Roberto is built to operate in winds up to 12 meters per second (about 27 mph), which is classified as a strong breeze (Beaufort force 6). Within this range, it can maintain stable flight and hover with high precision.
• Advanced Flight Control: Roberto will integrate advanced sensing and control technologies specifically designed to withstand the severe turbulence and gusty conditions found near fires.
• Specialized Design: If the standard design isn't robust enough for extreme conditions, the platform can be adapted. Fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) designs, for instance, offer better stability in strong winds than conventional rotary-wing drones. The drone can also be fitted with specialized gust sensors integrated into its rotors to maintain stability while carrying a heavy payload.

F-500 is an advanced firefighting agent that works very differently from water. It employs micelle encapsulation technology, meaning it creates microscopic spheres that encapsulate flammable vapors at a molecular level, rendering them non-flammable. It doesn't rely on forming a physical blanket like foam does. This gives it several key advantages:

• Superior Cooling Power: A 3% F-500 solution cools thermal runaway events (like battery fires) up to 20 times faster than water.
• Faster Suppression: In tests on lithium-ion battery fires, a 3% F-500 solution achieved the shortest suppression time (49 seconds) compared to water mist and other agents.
• Smoke and Toxin Suppression: F-500 actively suppresses smoke and the toxins released by fires.
• Environmentally Safe: It is biodegradable, non-toxic, non-corrosive, and free from PFAS and fluorine.

The flight path is a collaboration between the drone's autonomous systems and a human operator:

• Autonomous Capabilities: Roberto is capable of autonomous takeoff, following predetermined flight paths, and hovering over a detected fire. AI methods are used to automate navigation over fire zones.
• Human-in-the-Loop: The system is designed with a human operator making the final decisions, particularly on engaging the target. The operator can also take full manual control at any time to dynamically adjust the flight plan or in an emergency.

Locating the fire's core is Roberto's primary mission, and it's designed to do this even in zero-visibility conditions:

• Thermal Imaging: The drone uses a thermal camera (infrared sensor) which can see through dense smoke. Unlike a standard optical camera, it detects heat, revealing areas of extreme heat that are invisible to the eye.
• Identifying the Hotspot: The thermal imagery allows the operator to pinpoint the main fire sources even if they are hidden under debris, smoke, or flames. The camera provides a temperature readout for different areas, helping to distinguish the core from less intense hotspots.