Drones could soon be working together in swarms to put out flames before they become wildfires, UK researchers hope.
A team of firefighters, scientists and engineers are working on a project they say will allow swarms of up to 30 autonomous planes to spot and extinguish fires by working collectively using artificial intelligence.
Drones piloted by people are already used in firefighting, for example to detect hidden blazes and assess safety risks.
The research is still in the test phase and has not been used on a wildfire, but the team claims it is the first to combine unpiloted drone technology with swarm engineering in the field of firefighting.
The drones that researchers want to eventually use for firefighting are large twin-engined aircraft with a wingspan of 9.5m (31ft) and large water-carrying capacity.
The BBC was invited to an airfield in Cornwall to watch a small-scale swarm trial using one of these along with two smaller test drones. A fire was lit in a bin and the aircraft worked together autonomously to spot it, according to researchers, before mimicking dropping as if to put it out.
The drones are already designed to fly without any intervention from remote pilots, even handling changes in flight conditions themselves.
The next stage – swarm engineering – is about making many robots work together in real world applications, says Prof Sabine Hauert from the University of Bristol, one of the project partners.
“When you look at birds and ants and bees, they can do beautiful, complex behaviours by co-ordinating and so we take inspiration from that to co-ordinate large numbers of robots,” she said.
AI drones working individually and together in swarms open up the possibility of monitoring
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