Watch: Firefighter drone takes on an actual flamethrower

Researchers have developed a firefighter drone that can withstand temperatures of over 1,000 degrees Celcius.

The FAROS – or Fireproof Aerial Robot System – is a new unmanned UAV that’s designed to track down and map fires in skyscrapers in real-time.

To that end, scientists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology had to make sure FAROS was suitably flame-retardant.

And what better way to do that than by going ham on Korea’s latest super-drone with an actual flamethrower?

Check out the video below:

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Impressively, the drone manages to survive the assault unscathed, which is testament to FAROS’ hi-tech design.

The drone’s body is shielded with aramid fibres that protect the electrical and mechanical components from the fire.

There’s also a buffer of air beneath the fibres, which is maintained using a thermoelectric cooling system – this keeps the air at a specific temperature range.

The video test showed that the FAROS can endure heats of over 1,000 degrees Celcius from butane gas and ethanol aerosol flames for over a minute.

“As cities become more crowded with skyscrapers and super structures, fire incidents in these high-rise buildings are life-threating massive disasters,” says Professor Hyun Myung, of KAIST’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Departement.

Myung continues: “The FAROS can be aptly deployed to the disaster site at an early stage of such incidents to minimise the damage and maximise the safety and efficiency of a rescue mission.”

To that end, the FAROS is also equipped with a 2-D laser scanner, an altimeter, and an Inertia Measurement Unit.

There’s also image-processing technology on-board, allowing FAROS to detect the fire-ignition point.

What’s more, a thermal imaging camera lets FAROS identify objects and people, relaying it to ground crews in real-time.

What do you make of Korea’s firefighter drone? Let us know in the comments.