A member of WowWee's official user community has posted pictures of his Rovio hardware and software hack that turns his Rovio into a mobile automatic fire extinguisher. Using homebrew machine vision software running on his computer, his Rovio can identify fires and then put them out with a top-mounted custom fire suppressant spray. The spray contains CF2ClBr also known as Halon 1211 BCF which is a well known fire suppressant. In my opinion the fire must be relatively small for this to work, but that keeps a small fire that starts when you are away from home from turning in to a big one. Note, CF2CIBr contains chlorofluorocarbons which can deplete the ozone. However, I would think that the environmental impact of a home destroyed by fire is far less than that caused by the fire supressant. The Wikipedia article on Halon 1211 BCF contained this warning: "This is a volatile extinguishant that should be used only with a breathing apparatus (when volume exceeds 5%)".


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