The group said it held a donation ceremony on Feb. 24 at the Capital 119 Special Rescue Unit in Namyangju, Gyeonggi province, attended by Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun; President Sung Kim; Hyundai Rotem President Lee Yong-bae; Kim Seung-ryong, acting commissioner of the National Fire Agency; and Lee Jin-ho, planning and coordination director.
At the event, Hyundai Motor Group officially donated four remote firefighting units jointly developed with the National Fire Agency. The unmanned firefighting robot was built by mounting firefighting equipment on Hyundai Rotem’s electrified multipurpose unmanned vehicle, the HR-Sherpa, which can be driven remotely.
According to the National Fire Agency’s statistical yearbook, 1,802 firefighters were injured or killed in fires over the past 10 years. Hyundai Motor Group said the robots are designed to reduce injuries in disaster environments by equipping the HR-Sherpa with a water cannon, an onboard spray system, a camera to improve visibility and a remote controller.
The group said the system can operate near fire scenes by lowering equipment temperature to 50 to 60 degrees Celsius even in environments approaching 500 to 800 degrees Celsius.
Chung said firefighters who “rush without hesitation into life-and-death scenes to save lives” show what society must protect. “We developed the unmanned firefighting robot with the National Fire Agency to help realize the value of safety that firefighters have upheld,” he said.
Calling the donated units a new form of mobility that brings together the group’s core technologies, Chung said they embody a shared goal of “technology that saves lives.” He said he hopes the robots will be “reliable team members” that can be deployed first to dangerous sites to help protect firefighters.
Chung also said the group will support firefighters’ recovery by providing vehicles and rehabilitation equipment to the National Fire Hospital, which is scheduled to open in June. He said Hyundai Motor Group will continue to provide needed technology and support so firefighters can carry out their duties in safer conditions.
Kim, the acting fire agency commissioner, called the donation “the first step in a paradigm shift that rewrites the history of disaster response.” He said the agency will continue to bring advanced science and technology into the field through innovative partnerships with the private sector.
Of the four robots, two have already been deployed at the request of the fire agency, with one each assigned to the Capital region and Yeongnam 119 special rescue units and put into field operations. The remaining two are to be deployed in early next month, with one each assigned to the Gyeonggi South Fire Headquarters and the Chungnam Fire Headquarters.
Hyundai Motor Group said it supports firefighters in multiple ways, including planned donations of vehicles and rehabilitation equipment for treatment and recovery at the National Fire Hospital in Eumseong, North Chungcheong province, South Korea’s first medical institution specializing in firefighters.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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