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The nation's first firefighting robot was put into action today, just hours before its public unveiling by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The state-of-the-art RS-3 looks like a small, yellow tank. It's the latest in the department's arsenal of firefighting equipment. Today, it was called into action to help with a huge building fire in Downtown Los Angeles.
L.A. Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas says the remotely operated machine is designed to go directly into situations too dangerous for firefighters to handle on their own:
"But it also can be used for searching for people in large collapsed buildings, horse rescues, fuel tanker fires on the freeway, fires in refineries, and many others."
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