A Global Contest Awards $4.55 Million to Robot Systems That Spot and Fight Wildfires on Their Own

XPRIZE, a nonprofit that runs big science contests, today named the winners of its wildfire competition. Teams had to build systems of sensors and drones that could find a dangerous new fire and fight it within 10 minutes, with no one at the controls. The defense company Anduril took first place in that part of the contest.

XPRIZE, a nonprofit that runs large prize contests to push technology forward, today announced the winners of XPRIZE Wildfire, an $11 million competition it launched in 2023 to change how wildfires are found and fought. The winners were named at a ceremony at the New York City Fire Museum, and $4.55 million was awarded in total.

The contest had two parts. The first asked teams to spot fires from space, combining satellite pictures with AI. The second, the harder one, asked teams to build systems that respond on their own. In June, in the Alaskan wilderness, each finalist had to watch over 1,000 square kilometers of rough country, about 390 square miles, find a dangerous fire soon after it was lit, and completely put it out within 10 minutes of ignition, while leaving nearby decoy fires alone. No person was supposed to be steering.

First place in that self-running part, $1.2 million, went to Anduril Industries, a defense technology company, for software that links cameras, sensors and drones into one chain from spotting a fire to attacking it. Anduril also won a separate $1 million bonus prize for fast, accurate fire detection. Second place, $800,000, went to Dryad Networks, whose system combines a field of 170 ground sensors with drones. Third place, $500,000, went to AURA Foresight, which met the 10-minute detection goal. In the space part, the SIRIUS Wildfire Alliance took first place and $500,000.

It is worth being clear about what was and wasn't shown. XPRIZE's announcement praises the teams for "meaningful advances in wildfire detection and response," but it does not say that any team fully met the goal of putting a fire completely out in 10 minutes. One news site covering the awards put it this way: "That is a judged demonstration under a defined test, not evidence that Anduril has deployed an autonomous service for live wildfires." XPRIZE says the next step is a new phase aimed at turning the most promising systems into tools that work in real wildfire conditions.