Name: How cutting-edge robots can help prevent wildfires
Uploaded: 2025-11-29T01:53:29.576Z
Duration: 1 min 33 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.

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.

Los Angeles

Robotic technology is being deployed in California to help prevent wildfires by clearing brush and conducting controlled burns. The machines, such as the 'burnbot,' are designed to operate in challenging environments and reduce the amount of flammable material that fuels wildfires. 

While these robots offer significant support, experts emphasize that they are not intended to fully replace human crews or prescribed burns. Instead, the technology is seen as a practical tool to complement traditional firefighting efforts and improve wildfire prevention.

How cutting-edge robots can help prevent wildfires

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 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 oaks. Well, living in California, you can't ignore or wish away wildfires. Even with no firefighting experience, Anakul Akina helped design robots that can do controlled 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 burnbot 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 burnbots 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 Vigliotti, CBS News, Saratoga, California. The Roomba of the forest, I love that.

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