The Rundown Robotics: Water-blasting drones fight fires autonomously

SENECA🔥 Water-blasting drones fight fires autonomouslyImage source: Seneca

The Rundown: Sausalito startup Seneca raised $60M to build autonomous, water‑cannon drones that self‑launch to attack wildfires before they spread. After putting out test burns, Seneca is aiming for its first real‑world deployments next year.

The details:The drones self‑dispatch, fly autonomously, and pummel wildfires with dual water cannons engineered for rapid knockdowns.Seneca targets sub‑10‑minute response from remote launch sites, using heavy‑lift airframes that haul 100 lb. payloads and blast water at over 100 PSI.The startup says that five-drone teams can lay around 1,280 feet of foam perimeter with precision, boxing in small fires before they run amok. A five‑drone kit is priced from the high six figures into the low seven figures, undercutting helicopter sorties for initial attack.

Why it matters: California’s fire season now runs year-round, with the state losing over 4M acres in 2020 alone and climate change pushing ignition risk higher. Seneca’s drones could rewrite response by wiping out blazes in their first critical minutes — that narrow window that separates a contained burn from an unstoppable inferno.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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