ForestFire
Latest
MIT gurus dream up self-sustaining sensor network for preventing forest fires
Thanks, MIT. Why don't you just make the rest of the world feel a little more useless. Every week or so, we're forced to stare at yet another amazing invention coming from your doors; to be frank, it's just downright unfair. All childish angst aside, the latest idea to come from the institution is one that could certainly be put to good use: a self-sustaining sensor network that taps into trees for power in order to continuously monitor forests for threats of fire. Moreover, the concept could be applied in other scenarios as well -- to detect potential threats such as smuggled contraband along a nation's borders, perhaps. Testing of the wireless sensor network (developed by the appropriately named Voltree Power) is scheduled to begin next spring, and we're hearing that pot-sniffing turtles may even be brought in to create a completely natural self-policing environment.[Via Inhabitat]
OLE pill bug robot concept could fight forest fires
German researchers at the University of Madgeburg-Stendal have developed a concept for a robot shaped like a pill millipede that could potentially detect and fight forest fires. Were the "OLE" a real robot, it would be able to scuttle around the forest floor at speeds of around 6 to 12 MPH, using infrared and "biosensors" to detect fire sources. If it gets into trouble, it can curl up just like a real pill bug and be fully protected thanks to a ceramic-fibre compound shell that can withstand temperature of 1,300 Degrees Centigrade. According to the researchers, 30 of these OLEs could protect a forest area as large as 2,700 square miles, whilst simultaneously freaking out hundreds of forest animals.[Via GearFuse; thanks, Steve]
