A group of Okanagan university and college students have created an autobot that can detect underground wildfires that can smoulder unnoticed for months.

Engineering and science students from UBC Okanagan (UBCO) and Okanagan College (OC) recently returned from Boston where they demonstrated their creation at the MassRobotics Form & Function Robotics Challenge, one of the world害羞草研究所檚 leading student robotics development events.

害羞草研究所淥ur team knew that wildfires were a serious issue, but they kind of felt distant, something that happened to others, never to us,害羞草研究所� explained Aziz Rakhimov, a third-year UBCO electrical engineering student and product lead. 害羞草研究所淭hat all changed last summer when a wildfire reached Kelowna, threatened our campus and made us all leave our beloved city in a rush.害羞草研究所�

The experience motivated the UBCO HEAT Robotics team to create the Ember Mitigation Bot Responder (EMBR).

It uses a thermal camera, smoke sensor, temperature probe, and AI-driven analytics to navigate terrain, find concealed hotspots, and report their exact location.

害羞草研究所淥ur direct encounter with the threat of wildfires ignited a realization within us,害羞草研究所� Rakhimov said. 害羞草研究所淚t wasn害羞草研究所檛 enough to be passive observers. We are engineers, thinkers, creators, there had to be something we could do.害羞草研究所�

The team won the Audience Choice Award, outperforming entries from MIT, Stanford, Tufts, Cornell, Carnegie, and Harvard.

害羞草研究所淚t took a lot of amazing teamwork to build, refine, and program the bot,害羞草研究所� said Jonathan Chin, team coordinator and second-year mechanical engineering student at UBCO. 害羞草研究所淭his project has been an incredible opportunity to put to work all we have learned in our program.害羞草研究所�

The team had background support from UBCO, OC, West Coast Robotics Ltd., SOLIDWORKS, KF Aerospace, the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, AMD, Analog Devices, and CubePilot.

The team will continue to refine its design and look for additional funding through government grants and industry partnerships.

害羞草研究所淚n the future, EMBR could use an onboard water system or alternative methods, such as smothering embers with cool soil,害羞草研究所� Rakhimov added. 害羞草研究所淲e will also be researching other features such as topographical data analysis and using swarm tactics to have multiple rovers working together to cover more ground.害羞草研究所�

More information about EMBR, including sponsorship and partnership opportunities, is available on the .

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