Overview

• Byte is undergoing live-fire experiments at Schleswig-Holstein’s state fire school to collect temperature, flame and smoke measurements for its perception systems.
• The €100,000, 25-kilogram robot moves on four stilts but lacks the safeguards for active wildfire deployment and would be destroyed if sent into a blaze today.
• Researchers at Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel are creating photorealistic 3D models of trees, underbrush and grasses to generate synthetic datasets for AI training.
• Backed by €2 million in EU funding, the Wildfire Twins project aims to launch a virtual training environment within five years and pushes autonomous firefighting capabilities further into the future.
• Fire experts say matured reconnaissance tools like Byte could map fire spread, detect people in danger and reduce risks for frontline crews.