Name: How cutting-edge robots can help prevent wildfires
Uploaded: 2025-11-29T15:26:20.510Z
Duration: 1 min 58 s
Description: A Southern California couple became the first residents to return to a rebuilt home in the Eaton Fire burn zone outside Los Angeles. That home is designed to resist any future fires. Jonathan Vigliotti looks at how new robot technology is being used to prevent wildfires in the first place.

A Southern California couple became the first residents to return to a rebuilt home in the Eaton Fire burn zone outside Los Angeles. That home is designed to resist any future fires. Jonathan Vigliotti looks at how new robot technology is being used to prevent wildfires in the first place.

Southern California

In southern California, a Pasadena couple has become the first to return to a rebuilt, fire-resistant home in the Eaton fire burn zone, marking a milestone in wildfire recovery. The report highlights how innovative robots are now being deployed to clear brush and perform controlled burns in challenging terrain, reducing the fuel available for wildfires.

Firefighting experts note that while these robots offer significant advantages, such as operating in hazardous areas, they are intended to complement rather than replace human crews. The integration of this technology with traditional firefighting methods is seen as a practical step toward preventing the spread of major wildfires.

How cutting-edge robots can help prevent wildfires

We take you now to a milestone in the recovery from the devastating wildfires in southern California. A Pasadena couple this week became the first residents to return to a rebuilt home in the Eaton fire burn zone. That home is designed to resist any future fires. And tonight, Jonathan Bigliotti looks at how technology is being used to prevent wildfires in the first place. It's a California paradox. What looks so lush from above can be a tinderbox underneath. It's good to be a lot more volatile because there's a lot more dead material in the in the brush. Dave Manson spent 35 years as a firefighter. He's now on the cutting edge of innovation, helping to navigate a robot to clear brush in unforgiving terrain. How does this technology compare to human crews? Well, for starters, the machines don't get poison well, living in California, you can't ignore or wish away wildfires. Even with no firefighting experience, Anacula Kina helped design robots that can do control burns in addition to clearing brush. If you can go and remove that vegetation, you can deny the very thing that wildfires need. And in just one week, the burn bot removed this whole section, sucking up so much brush. Some are calling this device the Roomba of the forest. Is there a world where we could see burn bots doing the job of prescribed burns entirely without any human involvement? I don't think so. This is not the world of self driving cars. This is the world of let's get technology with our firefighters and our boots on the ground. So this isn't just, you know, flashy innovation. This is a solution. This is true. Yeah, it's the most basic solution. The best way to deal with a major wildfire is to prevent it from spreading. Jonathan Bigliotti, CBS News, Saratoga, California. The Roomba of the forest. I love that.

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