Slashing CO2Fire-breathing robots.
Big Picture
Fuel treatment or “good fire” is critical to wildfire and forest management. By reducing excess vegetation and replenishing soils, good fire can slash wildfire intensity by 10x, emissions by 80%, and damage by 8x. Yet, the US treats under 2% of the total acres required annually because standard practice is manual, expensive, toxic, and constrained to narrow weather windows that shrink as the climate changes.
How it Works
BurnBot scales good fires to prevent megafires. After remotely assessing vegetation, BurnBot deploys robots that masticate and burn vegetation in controlled ignition chambers that trap fire, smoke, and particulates. Thermal sensors then direct foam and sprays that smolder embers. The burnt fuel is then mulched and compacted to prevent re-ignition and replenish soils.
Unfair Advantage
By eliminating the risk of fire and smoke, BurnBot expands the areas for fuel treatment near infrastructure and homes and the windows for fuel treatment from the handful of days when weather aligns with labor availability to virtually any time or condition. Relative to standard practices, BurnBot can 10x fuel treatment capacity. Data analytics quantify risk reduction, unlocking savings on insurance premiums.
10
X amplification
of existing fire management workforce
ANUKOOL LAKHINA CEO & CO-FOUNDER
Anukool founded and sold the big data & AI company Guavus and used the proceeds to fund Wonder Labs, an NGO dedicated to wildfire reduction.
WALEED “LEE” HADDAD CTO & CO-FOUNDER
Lee has 35 years of experience designing, manufacturing, and commercializing novel deep-tech products in national labs and startups. He holds a PhD in Physics.
SIMON WEIBEL HEAD OF OPERATIONS
Simon was previously a Hotshot Firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service. He was also Director of Fire Operations and Sales for drone ignition Drone Amplified.
How the RX1 works
BurnBot
Why climate change makes it harder to fight fire with fire
The New York Times
Forest Service finds its planned burns sparked N.M.’s largest wildfire
The Washington Post
To protect forests, they must be logged and burned
The Breakthrough Institute