A fire on a ship is one of the worst fears of a sailor for the longest time (add a nuclear meltdown in a submarine to the list in keeping up with the times), and meeting Davy Jones and his fabled locker would be a viable alternative. Well, the US Navy decided to look for a different method in combating this ancient foe, and they are mulling over this humanoid firefighting robot that can throw extinguisher grenades in the direction of fires, moving around nimbly throughout the narrow passages and ladderways of modern warships.
It is also capable of walking up stairs as well as climbing ladders, thanks to the efforts of the Naval Research Laboratory. The Navy does not intend this to be a sea-bound robot all the time, and have also enlisted the help of the US military to look on how the Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR) might participate in “other potential warfighting applications”. Is the robot apocalypse drawing nearer?