Robotto at Microsoft Fast Forward

Last Friday, Robotto CEO and Co-Founder Kenneth Richard Geipel spoke at Microsoft's latest Fast Forward event. Panel and audience members gathered to discuss innovation, specifically, what does the future looks like in this fast-forward world of ours? And how can we innovate ourselves to a better and brighter future?

In 2018, four university students gathered to discuss potential ideas for a bachelor thesis. The idea was how to use drones to do dirty and dull tasks. Quickly realizing the potential for this innovation was large, the team decided to apply their ideas to combating wildfire: applying innovation to create a better and brighter future.

“We saw a record-breaking number of fires in Sweden, we saw devastating wildfires running through Greece, and we saw another record-breaking mega-fire in California – a record that has been broken five times since. And we asked ourselves, how can we help with this pressing issue”, Kenneth Richard Geipel said during his segment.

Today innovating for a better and brighter future is still at the very core of what we do. With Robotto Fire we knew bringing the power of AI to Fire detection and analysis had the potential to save lives and save nature, and this knowledge fueled our determination to bring this to market.

KNOWING OUR IMPACT

In 2021, this determination and passion for innovating for good inspired us to ensure our idea was in fact, beneficial for our users. Together with the Footprint Firm, we ran an analysis based on interviews, case studies, and literature in the hopes of gaining a true understanding of Robotto Fire's overall impact.

Through these studies, we calculated the overall resources used by fire departments as well as the total spread of the fire.

Then we compared data from case studies where Robotto Fire was used. Seeing these numbers strengthened our passion for innovating in the field as Robotto Fire clearly had a large impact on not only the total resources used but the overall spread of the fire.

Continuing in this quest to understand our overall impact, we conducted calculations on the environmental impact of wildfires.

"According to the CAMS scientists, global wildfires in 2021 caused an estimated total of 1760 megatonnes of carbon emissions, which is the equivalent of 6450 megatonnes of CO2. To put this figure into some perspective – total CO2 emissions from fossil fuel in the EU in 2020 amounted to 2600 megatonnes, in other words - wildfires this year generated 148% more than total EU fossil fuel emissions in 2020." Source

Recognizing the impact wildfire has on climate change as well as the impact climate change has on wildfires, we decided to further calculate Robotto Fire's impact. To do so we evaluated wildfire trends and wildfire emissions.

With these assumptions and averages, we summarized that:

• Wildfires emit between five and 30 tons of carbon p. ha

• In an average year (with 30 million ha burned), wildfire emissions range between slightly below industrial emissions to six times more than that of industrial emissions

• In an exceptional year, with approximately 120 million ha burned, wildfire emissions range from four to 23 times that of industrial emissions.

Knowing the impact Robotto Fire has on reducing overall burn sizes, doing so at a faster rate than traditional detection and analysis methods (due to an improved allocation of resources and faster data collection and analysis) we then calculated Robotto Fire's estimated impact on wildfire emissions. Through this, we found that Robotto Fire has the potential to eliminated emissions equal to the total emissions of the country of Denmark. (By increasing effectiveness of current firefighting by 10%).

INNOVATION AT ROBOTTO

A better and brighter future requires a change, but this doesn't always mean reversing or altering our behavior on an individual level. Through innovation, we as a society have the ability to make substantial, lasting, and impactful changes.

At Robotto our innovation follows a triangle method. We build, measure, and then learn to make improvements.

Together with the Danish Emergency Management Agency, we have been able to experiment with our software based on our own hypothesis, then measure and analyze metrics, giving us a better point of perspective.

For larger organizations, innovation is incremental small steps to existing products. But for organizations such as ours, "innovation is at the heart of what we do. Innovation means nothing to startups. That’s our world, the norm," says Robotto CEO and Co-Founder Kenneth Richard Geipel. Innovation is seeing the larger potential in a fun idea university project, taking this idea and developing in the hopes that it brings about a brighter and better future.

See a recap video here:

Read about the other attendees here: https://pulse.microsoft.com/da-dk/transform-da-dk/na/fa3-fighting-wildfires-with-drones-and-3d-printed-shoe-soles-what-does-the-future-look-like-in-this-fast-forward-world/

Robotto partners with Kenyan-based Stablegen to combat a growing threat from wildfire in Kenya

Robotto is excited to announce its new partnership with Kenyan-based drone distributor, Stablegen. Stablegen’s objective to provide advanced drone solutions that enhance Kenya’s ability to utilize and protect Kenya’s vast and beautiful farmland and wildland makes them an ideal partner in this region of the world. As the first distributor to receive authorization to provide drones to the emergency service sector, Robotto is excited to partner with them as they introduce drones to the Kenyan fire service.

”Stablegen’s commitment to Kenya’s nature and their passion for helping industries utilize the potential of drones makes them the perfect partner in their region. We at Robotto look forward to working with them as they partner with emergency services to bring them the power of autonomous drones equipped with fire data collection and analysis, powered by ai.” Robotto CEO and Co-Founder, Kenneth Richard Geipel

Kenya, like much of the world, has been experiencing a drastic increase in the number and intensity of wildfires. Additionally, COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation, limiting the Kenyan Forest Service’s ability to combat fires due to limited PPE, equipment, tools, and manpower.

Implementing drones equipped with Robotto’s AWRA software will decrease man-hours by 50-70% by strategically tackling fires and save approximately 60% of land by controlling fires early on. This will undoubtedly aid emergency services in Kenya as they work to protect Kenya’s nature, farmland, and communities.

ABOUT STABLEGEN

Stablegen was founded in 2020 by Captain Tobias Ogeto after the promulgation of the Civil Aviation (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) Regulations 2020 in Kenya. Providing drone services within agriculture, aerial survey, and mapping, industrial inspections, and photography, Stablegen looking forward to expanding its services to the emergency service sector.

Stablegen Press Release

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Robotto and EET partner to help firefighters regain control of wildfires

Robotto is happy to announce our new partnership with EET, a company dedicated to improving the environment through innovating state-of-the-art drone technology aimed at increasing sustainability. This partnership will aim to help the brave men and women of the firefighter community regain control of wildfires.

"Joining in a partnership with a company as EET will allow us to serve our firefighters throughout Europe. Saving lives, and saving Nature. This is an excellent opportunity for Robotto and EET, who are dramatically ramping up their drone program, in growing together. Bringing state-of-the-art robotics to the frontline of firefighting operations."

Kenneth Richard Geipel, CEO at Robotto

With the yearly increase in the number of wildfires ravaging communities across the globe, applying this technology will give back the initiative to the hands of the firefighters. AWRA calculates the exact position, size, direction, and local weather information of the fire, and visualize all this data on a map in real time. Letting firefighters know how the fire is evolving, second by second, day or night. Making sure incident commanders allocate their resources with the biggest punch.

• By strategically targeting wildfires, 50% to 70% of the man-hours in a wildfire operation can be saved. Reserving troops for other emergencies or fires.

• Controlling the wildfire early on, up to 60% of the ha. land that would have been destroyed can be spared.

• With a much smaller area being burned, there will be a massive saving of CO2 and other harmful emissions. Benefitting the health of the communities locally and mitigating global warming.

"Our new partnership with Robotto is a great addition to our drone solution portfolio. Not only as a technological advance on combating wildfires but also a great way to help reduce global Co2 emission."

Casper Duus Christensen, Product Manager at EET Group

About EET: EET Group is a value adding niche IT distributor, providing suppliers and customers with expert industry knowledge, intelligent logistics solutions, unique sales service and smart marketing tools. The organization has recently added drone solutions to their portfolio. They operate in 24 markets across Europe, carry over 1,100 brands and serve more than 30,000 buying customers annually.

Learn more about EET