On September 21-22 at Uppsala Rescue Services’ training facilities, Brandskyddsföreningen, in collaboration with professional fire chiefs’ association Föreningen Sveriges Brandbefäl (SBB), Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and Uppsala Fire Department, organized Sweden’s largest meeting place for rescue service personnel. The program was filled with insightful lectures and live demonstrations. A few of the many topics discussed include emergency services during war, fires in batteries, and underground facilities with perspectives from Stockholm and Gothenburg.
As for the robotics part of the conference, we brought Fumo along and had the opportunity to demo it twice. We showed the spectators Fumo’s overall functionality and how easily it fits through narrow openings. We also demonstrated how Fumo maneuvers over steep, ditch-type terrain with a slope of 20-25°, and finished off the demo by lifting Fumo 30 meters up the air with the help of Bronto Skylift, showcasing the advantage of its small size as the vast majority of fire robots would probably be too heavy to go on the lift.
Thomas gave a lecture on how to disarm gas bottles with the help of robotics. He also assisted fire instructor Lars Axelsson in his demonstration of fire extinguishing with a closed beam and, using Fumo, showed how robots may be used for the purpose.
All in all, it was a busy but fruitful couple of days that certainly brought us new perspectives and allowed us to exchange ideas with the sharpest of the sharp across all types of rescue services.
A big thank you to Uppsala Rescue Services for an event well done and a special thanks to Fredrik Sedvall och Stefan Mattson for allowing us to demonstrate Fumo’s capabilities in various environments.
