AI-Powered Firefighter Protection System Wins IBM-Sponsored Contest

IBM has announced the winner of an international competition that sought disaster response technologies from across industry and academia. Prometeo, winner of the Call for Code 2019 Global Challenge, is an artificial intelligence system that works to protect firefighters during operations, IBM said Saturday.

The arm-strapped, smartphone-sized device measures external factors that affect firefighters, such as smoke concentration, humidity and temperature. The system then links with IBM’s Cloud Internet of Things platform and a machine learning model to help command centers monitor firefighter health in real time.

Software developers, a nurse and a firefighter compose the Barcelona-based team that produced Prometeo. The team will receive a cash prize worth $200K. IBM and partner organizations will also help the Prometeo team deploy the AI-driven system via the company’s $25M Code and Response initiative, an effort that aims to field problem-addressing technologies.

IBM Corporate Service Corps will also work to further develop and deploy Prometeo. David Cause, who created the competition, announced Prometeo’s win at the United Nations Delegates Dining Room in New York City.