O.C.T.A.L. Fire
We're a brand-new team of 18 MechE, ECE and RoboE undergrad students from the Olin College of Engineering. In just two semesters, we're designing and building a 15-ft autonomous octocopter to take on wildfires before they can spread!
In 2025, lightning strikes started:
6,998 fires across the US
Accounting for:
56% of all acres burned that year
Incipient fires double in size every 90 seconds. Currently, it takes:
1.3-6.2 hours to respond to remote fires
OCTAL's autonomous fleet gets on-location in:
15 minutes
O.C.T.A.L. is engineered to respond to wildfires faster--and safer--than humans can. Satellites can already detect hotspots with a resolution of ~500ft. Our system will autonomously deploy to the detected hotspot, perform an analysis with 6 visible and infrared-spectrum cameras, and release fire retardent before the fire has time to get large, saving wildlife, property, and human lives. With four 66Ah, 60V solid-state LiPo battery packs, a 75kg payload, and a projected 40-minute flight time, O.C.T.A.L is built for redundancy, versatile mission capability, and all-around baddassery.
