Collapsed structures, void spaces, confined or below-grade areas, unstable buildings, hazardous-material releases, water environments and other dangerous locations may require responders to enter simply to determine what is there.
Driven or tracked platforms that can enter and report before a person does.
Before you buy
Small aircraft built to fly in enclosed spaces without GPS.
Small caged drones designed for interior flight where GPS is unavailable.
Before you buy
Platforms designed for rubble, stairs and unstable footing.
Arms that can open, move or retrieve, rather than only look.
Remote platforms for water search and submerged assessment.
Gas, radiation, thermal and camera payloads carried to the hazard instead of a responder.
Listed alphabetically, not ranked. Everything below is reported by the company itself. Being listed is free and is not a recommendation — use the questions above when you talk to any of them.
AirData Public Safety
Drone fleet and compliance management platform for public safety UAS programs.
Visit website →Aloft Air Control
UAS fleet, airspace, authorization, compliance, and flight-management platform for public safety drone programs.
Visit website →TEC800
Modular teleoperated firefighting robot capable of suppression, thermal reconnaissance, gas sensing, casualty evacuation, equipment transport, towing, and smoke removal.
Visit website →Axon Air
Axon Air provides drone-as-first-responder hardware, software, live video, and regulatory support for public safety agencies.
Visit website →Spot
Highly mobile quadruped robot that can remotely carry cameras, thermal imaging, CBRNE sensors, LiDAR, communications equipment, and a robotic arm into hazardous environments.
Visit website →BRINC DFR
Purpose-built public safety DFR ecosystem combining autonomous drones, robotic stations, remote operations software, CAD integration, and program support.
Visit website →PIVOT ROV
Portable underwater ROV supporting cameras, sonar, navigation, manipulators, and other tools for search, recovery, inspection, and rescue operations.
Visit website →MVF-5
Heavy emergency-response robot with onboard water and foam suppression, thermal imaging, cameras, debris-clearing capability, and tracked mobility.
Visit website →Commander 3 XL
Multi-mission public safety drone capable of thermal imaging, surveillance, mapping, payload delivery, and other emergency response operations.
Visit website →DroneControl Software Ecosystem
A secure drone operations platform for fire and emergency services, combining flight operations, live video, incident collaboration, automated flight logs, media management, pilot management and fleet compliance.
Visit website →DroneSense Platform
DroneSense helps public safety agencies fly, manage, map, stream, and collaborate around drone operations.
Visit website →ExR-2.5
Certified autonomous inspection robot for potentially explosive industrial environments with LiDAR, cameras, remote operation, autonomous navigation, and configurable sensors.
Visit website →Flock DFR
Flock DFR is a drone-as-first-responder system that launches drones to provide live incident video and scene awareness.
Visit website →FlytBase Drone Autonomy Platform
Hardware-agnostic autonomy platform for operating docked drone fleets and automatically responding to public safety incidents.
Visit website →Fotokite Sigma
Fotokite Sigma is a tethered UAS that provides fire and public safety teams with live aerial situational awareness.
Visit website →Vision 60
Rugged all-terrain quadruped robot supporting CBRN sensors, thermal imaging, LiDAR, autonomous navigation, communications, manipulation, and public safety reconnaissance.
Visit website →Thermite
Remote-controlled tracked firefighting robot family for high-flow fire suppression, reconnaissance, obstacle movement, and operations in extreme environments.
Visit website →Wolf R1
Electric tactical response robot for firefighting, hazardous-material reconnaissance, recovery, equipment transport, and remote operations in dangerous environments.
Visit website →MatrixSpace 360 Radar
AI-enabled low-altitude airspace radar that supports detect-and-avoid and scalable BVLOS Drone as First Responder operations.
Visit website →Paladin DFR
Turnkey autonomous DFR system using docked aircraft and cloud-based operations to provide aerial intelligence before responders arrive.
Visit website →TALON
Multi-mission tracked robot for HAZMAT/CBRN reconnaissance, EOD, rescue, surveillance, heavy manipulation, and hazardous-environment operations.
Visit website →Throwbot 2
Throwable micro-robot providing remote video and audio reconnaissance inside hazardous buildings and other inaccessible areas.
Visit website →RT-20
Man-portable all-terrain robot providing 360-degree reconnaissance and optional manipulation and CBRN/HAZMAT sensor integration.
Visit website →RTE Robot
Modular electric firefighting robot for remote suppression, interior attack support, HAZMAT operations, rescue, reconnaissance, and equipment movement.
Visit website →Seneca Autonomous Aerial Suppression System
Autonomous AI-enabled fire suppression drones that locate fires and deliver Class A foam for rapid initial attack and other wildland firefighting missions.
Visit website →Colossus
Heavy modular firefighting robot capable of high-flow suppression, thermal reconnaissance, equipment transport, casualty evacuation, and CBRN missions.
Visit website →Skydio Solution for Fire Service
Skydio provides drones and software for fire service drone-as-first-responder, incident intelligence, thermal imaging, and mapping.
Visit website →SkyfireAI DFR
Turnkey Drone as First Responder program combining autonomous operations, regulatory support, training, airspace awareness, and remote pilots.
Visit website →4-GasPLUS Sensor Robot
Drone-deployable impact-resistant sensor robot providing four-gas monitoring, 360-degree video, GPS, environmental sensing, and mesh-network communications.
Visit website →Bulldog
Tracked tactical robot with cameras, two-way audio, stair-climbing capability, and a six-axis manipulator arm.
Visit website →Taurob Operator
ATEX-capable tracked robotic platform for remote inspection, gas detection, spill monitoring, industrial emergency response, and manipulation of valves and equipment.
Visit website →Mission Specialist Defender
Modular underwater ROV for search and recovery, evidence retrieval, underwater inspection, port security, diver support, and public safety missions.
Visit website →Something here wrong or out of date? Report inaccurate information · Add a company
Government, standards and peer-reviewed sources on this problem. Every address here was checked before it was published.
Repeatable tests for ground and aerial response robots, developed with DHS around responder requirements.
Why it matters
Lets a department compare two platforms on measured performance rather than on the demonstration.
The research programme behind those test methods.
Why it matters
Useful background on what these machines are actually measured for.
How a robot behaves as the radio link degrades — inside structures, below grade, through rubble.
Why it matters
The failure mode that matters most: a robot you can no longer control is a robot you have to go and retrieve.
Nothing here is paid placement. Links are chosen because they are the clearest explanation we could find, and labeled so you know who wrote them.
