Mumbai: City fire brigade to get robot to tackle life-threatening situations

Mumbai: The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) soon to procure remote controlled robot to help them during life-threatening situation. According to officers, global tenders have been floated in April and bidders have been asked to participate uptill May 2018. “The places which are not accessible there this robots will be operated. Also, initially on trial basis only one will be purchased and after successful result more will be procured,” said fire officer.

R A Chaudhary the Deputy Fire Officer (Technical) added, “Robots can spray water and foam mist up and are useful in complex fire situations, like for example at dumping grounds where firemen find it difficult to reach due to no proper roads, there robot will be useful. Similarly, in congested basement and other places.”

The estimated cost to purchase remote controlled robot is Rs 1.12 crore. The officer added as per tender condition whoever shows interest they have to give two years warranty and five years comprehensive maintenance.

While Mumbai based activist Godfrey Pimenta is of the opinion that MFB should procure more robots instead of only one. “With the development in the field of robotics, human intrusion has become less and robots are being widely used for safety purpose. In our day-to-day life, fire accidents have become common in Mumbai and sometimes may lead to hazards that make it hard for the firemen to protect human lives. In such cases, a fire fighting robot will be a useful tool to guard human lives, wealth, and surroundings from the fire hazards,” said Pimenta.