Jane Edwards
Anthony Robbins, vice president of federal at NVIDIA, said autonomous systems, weather prediction models, simulators and other artificial intelligence-based technologies could enable fire departments and first responders to predict and prevent wildfires.
“Drones and other autonomous systems will increase the efficacy of the nation’s overall wildfire response and provide a new way to protect firefighters on the ground while they tackle active fires,” Robbins, a 2023 Wash100 awardee, wrote in an article published Tuesday on StateTech Magazine.
He cited a President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology report, which recommended the use of AI-based platforms to modernize wildfire firefighting, and mentioned the use of drones by the U.S. Forest Service to detect fires.
Robbins discussed how digital twins and virtual-world simulation platforms could enable emergency responders at federal, state and local agencies to analyze wildfire behavior in real time and make predictions when it comes to directing resources on the ground.
He also highlighted the need for large data sets to ensure the accuracy of suggestions that digital twins generate.
“These data sets are made up of real-time fire data collected by sensors, as well as information on topography, vegetation and other variables,” Robbins wrote.
“This level of analysis is only possible through planning and orchestration models that rely on AI supported by the processing power of a graphics processing unit,” he added.
