Response robots
Ground platforms that enter, look and report before a person does.
Before you buy
- Decontaminating the platform afterwards is a real cost people forget to plan for.
We commit people to characterize the hazard
Entry teams may be exposed simply to identify the product, locate the release, read an instrument or obtain visual information that could potentially be gathered from a safer position.
Technology approaches
UAS
Aircraft for overhead product identification, container markings and release location.
Remote cameras
Eyes on the release from outside the hazard area.
Remote gas detection
Readings taken at a distance rather than by an entry team carrying the meter.
Thermal imaging
Container levels, liquid lines and heat conditions read from stand-off.
Radiation and chemical sensing payloads
Detection instruments carried to the hazard by a machine instead of a responder.
Companies working in this area
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.
908 Devices
MX908
A handheld mass spectrometer that identifies unknown chemicals, narcotics and chemical warfare agents at the scene in seconds.
Visit website →AirData UAV
AirData Public Safety
Drone fleet and compliance management platform for public safety UAS programs.
Visit website →Aloft Technologies
Aloft Air Control
UAS fleet, airspace, authorization, compliance, and flight-management platform for public safety drone programs.
Visit website →ANGATEC
TEC800
Modular teleoperated firefighting robot capable of suppression, thermal reconnaissance, gas sensing, casualty evacuation, equipment transport, towing, and smoke removal.
Visit website →Axon
Axon Air
Axon Air provides drone-as-first-responder hardware, software, live video, and regulatory support for public safety agencies.
Visit website →Bertin Environics
ChemProX
Connected handheld chemical detector providing early warning and classification of chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals.
Visit website →Blackline Safety
EXO 8
Drop-and-go connected area monitor capable of detecting up to eight gases plus gamma radiation while streaming readings and location data to the cloud.
Visit website →Bodytrak
An in-ear monitor measuring core body temperature, heart rate and fatigue, with alerts and location sent to a live dashboard.
Visit website →Boston Dynamics
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
BRINC DFR
Purpose-built public safety DFR ecosystem combining autonomous drones, robotic stations, remote operations software, CAD integration, and program support.
Visit website →Butterfly Network
Butterfly iQ3
Smartphone-connected whole-body handheld ultrasound system designed to bring point-of-care imaging to EMS and other mobile clinical environments.
Visit website →Clarius Mobile Health
Clarius PAL HD3
Wireless dual-array handheld ultrasound system providing whole-body point-of-care imaging and telemedicine capability for EMS clinicians.
Visit website →corpuls
corpuls3
Modular monitor/defibrillator with ECG, vital-sign monitoring, defibrillation, wireless data transmission, and telemedicine capabilities for prehospital care.
Visit website →Deep Trekker
PIVOT ROV
Portable underwater ROV supporting cameras, sonar, navigation, manipulators, and other tools for search, recovery, inspection, and rescue operations.
Visit website →DOK-ING
MVF-5
Heavy emergency-response robot with onboard water and foam suppression, thermal imaging, cameras, debris-clearing capability, and tracked mobility.
Visit website →Draganfly
Commander 3 XL
Multi-mission public safety drone capable of thermal imaging, surveillance, mapping, payload delivery, and other emergency response operations.
Visit website →DroneControl
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
DroneSense Platform
DroneSense helps public safety agencies fly, manage, map, stream, and collaborate around drone operations.
Visit website →ExRobotics
ExR-2.5
Certified autonomous inspection robot for potentially explosive industrial environments with LiDAR, cameras, remote operation, autonomous navigation, and configurable sensors.
Visit website →FiSci
Mitigate
Mitigate shows you where fire will go before it starts, which fuel treatments actually reduce that risk and what each costs — and alerts you in real time when something ignites near your values at risk.
Visit website →Flock Safety
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
FlytBase Drone Autonomy Platform
Hardware-agnostic autonomy platform for operating docked drone fleets and automatically responding to public safety incidents.
Visit website →Fotokite
Fotokite Sigma
Fotokite Sigma is a tethered UAS that provides fire and public safety teams with live aerial situational awareness.
Visit website →FUJIFILM Sonosite
Sonosite MT
Portable point-of-care ultrasound system designed to deliver diagnostic imaging in mobile and space-constrained care environments.
Visit website →Gasmet Technologies
GT5000 Terra
Portable FTIR gas analyzer capable of identifying thousands of gases and simultaneously quantifying multiple compounds in real time.
Visit website →GE HealthCare
Vscan Air CL
Wireless dual-probe handheld ultrasound that connects to Apple and Android mobile devices for portable point-of-care imaging.
Visit website →Ghost Robotics
Vision 60
Rugged all-terrain quadruped robot supporting CBRN sensors, thermal imaging, LiDAR, autonomous navigation, communications, manipulation, and public safety reconnaissance.
Visit website →GrayWolf Sensing Solutions
DirectSense XM
Modular multi-gas sensing platform supporting toxic gases, VOC/PID, oxygen, environmental measurements, mobile-device connectivity, and cloud monitoring.
Visit website →Hamilton Medical
HAMILTON-T1
Rugged critical-care transport ventilator providing advanced invasive and noninvasive ventilation, monitoring, and connectivity for ground and air medical transport.
Visit website →Honeywell
MultiRAE Pro
Wireless multi-threat monitor capable of simultaneously detecting chemical hazards and gamma radiation and transmitting alarms to command personnel.
Visit website →Howe & Howe Technologies
Thermite
Remote-controlled tracked firefighting robot family for high-flow fire suppression, reconnaissance, obstacle movement, and operations in extreme environments.
Visit website →Industrial Scientific
Ventis Pro5
Connected five-gas monitor capable of transmitting real-time readings, alarms, man-down events, and location information.
Visit website →ION Science
Tiger XT
Handheld PID capable of rapidly detecting hundreds of volatile organic compounds and toxic compounds from ppb to high ppm concentrations.
Visit website →Kromek
D5 RIID
Compact wearable radioisotope identification device that continuously detects and identifies radiological threats in real time.
Visit website →Magirus
Wolf R1
Electric tactical response robot for firefighting, hazardous-material reconnaissance, recovery, equipment transport, and remote operations in dangerous environments.
Visit website →Masimo
Rad-97
Portable configurable patient monitor supporting pulse oximetry and optional advanced measurements including capnography and noninvasive blood pressure.
Visit website →MatrixSpace
MatrixSpace 360 Radar
AI-enabled low-altitude airspace radar that supports detect-and-avoid and scalable BVLOS Drone as First Responder operations.
Visit website →Medtronic
Capnostream 35
Rugged portable respiratory monitor providing continuous capnography, pulse oximetry, respiratory rate, and integrated respiratory-status assessment for EMS and transport.
Visit website →Metrohm
MIRA DS Advanced
Rugged handheld Raman spectrometer for rapid nondestructive identification of hazardous chemicals, explosives, drugs, and other unknown materials.
Visit website →Mindray
BeneHeart D60
Rugged transport monitor/defibrillator with advanced patient monitoring and real-time prehospital data transmission capabilities.
Visit website →Mirion Technologies
RDS-32
Rugged handheld radiation survey meter with optional external probes, data logging, wireless monitoring, and mobile connectivity.
Visit website →MSA Safety
ALTAIR 5X
Rugged multi-gas detector configurable for combustible gases, oxygen, toxic gases, and PID-based VOC monitoring.
Visit website →Paladin
Paladin DFR
Turnkey autonomous DFR system using docked aircraft and cloud-based operations to provide aerial intelligence before responders arrive.
Visit website →Pano AI
Pano Rapid Detect
Pano Rapid Detect monitors for wildfire smoke and sends verified incident intelligence to response partners.
Visit website →Philips
Tempus ALS
Lightweight prehospital monitoring and defibrillation system combining the Tempus Pro patient monitor with the Tempus LS-Manual defibrillator.
Visit website →Proengin
AP4C
Handheld flame-spectrometry detector for continuous detection of chemical warfare agents, toxic industrial chemicals, pharmaceutical-based agents, and other chemical threats.
Visit website →QinetiQ US
TALON
Multi-mission tracked robot for HAZMAT/CBRN reconnaissance, EOD, rescue, surveillance, heavy manipulation, and hazardous-environment operations.
Visit website →ReconRobotics
Throwbot 2
Throwable micro-robot providing remote video and audio reconnaissance inside hazardous buildings and other inaccessible areas.
Visit website →Rigaku Analytical Devices
CQL Max-ID
Handheld 1064 nm Raman analyzer for identifying thousands of chemicals, explosives, narcotics, toxic industrial chemicals, and chemical warfare agents.
Visit website →RKI Instruments
GX-6100
Six-gas sample-draw detector with multiple PID options, toxic sensors, combustible-gas monitoring, oxygen monitoring, and Bluetooth emergency-alert sharing.
Visit website →Roboteam
RT-20
Man-portable all-terrain robot providing 360-degree reconnaissance and optional manipulation and CBRN/HAZMAT sensor integration.
Visit website →Rosenbauer
RTE Robot
Modular electric firefighting robot for remote suppression, interior attack support, HAZMAT operations, rescue, reconnaissance, and equipment movement.
Visit website →SCHILLER
DEFIGARD Touch 7
Connected emergency monitor/defibrillator offering ECG, capnography, blood pressure, pulse oximetry, CPR feedback, pacing, defibrillation, livestreaming, and ePCR connectivity.
Visit website →Seneca
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 →SENSIT Technologies
SENSIT GOLD 3
Connected multi-gas detector for combustible-gas investigation, toxic-gas monitoring, oxygen measurement, gas-leak pinpointing, and emergency response.
Visit website →Shark Robotics
Colossus
Heavy modular firefighting robot capable of high-flow suppression, thermal reconnaissance, equipment transport, casualty evacuation, and CBRN missions.
Visit website →Skydio
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
SkyfireAI DFR
Turnkey Drone as First Responder program combining autonomous operations, regulatory support, training, airspace awareness, and remote pilots.
Visit website →SlateSafety
BAND V2
An arm-worn monitor that tracks core body temperature, heart rate and exertion, and alerts a safety officer before a firefighter goes down.
Visit website →Smiths Detection
HazMatID Elite
Rugged handheld FTIR chemical identifier designed for on-scene identification of unknown solids and liquids.
Visit website →Squishy Robotics
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 →SuperDroid Robots
Bulldog
Tracked tactical robot with cameras, two-way audio, stair-climbing capability, and a six-axis manipulator arm.
Visit website →Taurob
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 →Teledyne FLIR
Griffin G510
Person-portable GC/MS system that identifies unknown gases, liquids, and solids at hazardous-material incidents.
Visit website →Thermo Fisher Scientific
TruDefender FTX
Rugged handheld FTIR chemical identifier for rapid field analysis of unknown solids and liquids.
Visit website →TSI
DustTrak DRX Aerosol Monitor 8534
Portable real-time aerosol monitor that measures particulate concentrations and size fractions for dust, smoke, fumes, mists, and other airborne particulate hazards.
Visit website →VideoRay
Mission Specialist Defender
Modular underwater ROV for search and recovery, evidence retrieval, underwater inspection, port security, diver support, and public safety missions.
Visit website →ZOLL Medical Corporation
X Series Advanced
Portable EMS monitor/defibrillator combining advanced patient monitoring, defibrillation, ventilation feedback, telemedicine capabilities, and resuscitation data collection.
Visit website →
Something here wrong or out of date? Report inaccurate information · Add a company
Evidence and research
Government, standards and peer-reviewed sources on this problem. Every address here was checked before it was published.
Research
Performance of Emergency Response Robots
The NIST research programme measuring what response robots can actually do.
Why it matters
Measured performance, rather than the capability described in the brochure.
Research
Department of Homeland Security Response Robot Performance Standards
Standards work developed with DHS around responder requirements for response robots.
Why it matters
Gives a department a common yardstick for comparing two platforms.
Research
Standard Test Methods for Response Robots
Repeatable tests for ground and aerial response robots, including mobility, sensing and radio performance as the link degrades.
Why it matters
Directly relevant to hazmat reconnaissance: a robot you can no longer control inside a structure is a robot somebody has to go and retrieve.
How these sources are labeled
- Research
- Academic or laboratory work.
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.
What departments are asking
Mutual AidDrone platform for hazmat monitoring — what are people flying?
Need something that can carry a four-gas meter and survive decon. Our current airframe is not rated for it. What sensor are you carrying, and has it been validated in that configuration rather than on a bench? How are readings transmitted, and at what stand-off distance? How does decon affect the aircraft, and is the platform treated as disposable once it is contaminated? What is your plan if communications fail while it is over the release?