Prometeo Platform S.L. Is Open Sourcing ‘Pyrrha’ to Monitor and Act On Firefighters’ Health and Safety as They Battle Blazes, With Support From Samsung
The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, announced it will host Pyrrha, created and contributed by Prometeo Platform S.L., in collaboration with IBM to help accelerate the development and deployment of firefighter safety technology around the world. In 2019, Prometeo was named the winner of the Call for Code Global Challenge and since then their technology has been further developed with updated hardware and enhanced software through work with the IBM volunteer Service Corps and leading ecosystem partners.
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Climate change has created more dangerous conditions for firefighters by increasing the risk and extent of wildfires around the world. From Australia’s 2020 brushfires, to record-breaking wildfires in Spain and the Western United States, fires in recent years have increased in number, severity, and destruction, while posing greater immediate and long-term health risks to firefighters who battle these blazes. According to Cal Fire, California is already experiencing a 26% increase in 2021 wildfire activity and a 58% increase in acres burned compared to 2020.
Through the Pyrrha open source project, Prometeo, the Linux Foundation, and IBM aim to accelerate innovation around firefighter health monitoring and safety. By partnering with leading companies from the Call for Code ecosystem like Samsung, the goal is to customize and scale the solution around the world in an effort to help save lives.
“Samsung and IBM have collaborated for many years to create industry leading technologies that solve challenging societal and business problems. Now we’re excited to work together to advance tech for good and help combat the effects of climate change,” said Executive Vice President of Samsung B2B Mobile KC Choi. “As a huge proponent of open source technology, we see Call for Code as a unique opportunity to deploy real world solutions based on open source technologies. We’re excited to be able to equip award-winning teams like Prometeo with resources to strengthen their solution as it is actively tested, deployed, and now made available in open source. We also look forward to increasing our own participation in Call for Code.”
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The Prometeo solution was created by a nurse, a firefighter, and developers as a system that uses artificial intelligence and the internet of things to guard the safety of firefighters. Over the past two years through collaboration with Call for Code ecosystem partners, Prometeo has improved its technology across offline usage, through integration with mobile phones and watches to provided two-way alerts, and in capturing the averages of toxin exposure over time. Through field tests in Spain in early 2020 and 2021, the technology has incorporated firefighter feedback and amassed anonymized technical data to improve the solution end-to-end.
“Pyrrha is another example of the power of open source to accelerate technology innovation that can save lives,” said Mike Dolan, senior vice president and GM of Projects at the Linux Foundation. “We are happy to support and host the development of Pyrrha and the community that is building and using it.”
“On behalf of the Prometeo team, we want to extend our deepest thanks to our many partners who have contributed to improve this solution and help protect firefighters,” said Salome Valero, co-founder of Prometeo. “We set out to create technology that would equip firefighters with personalized monitoring of their exposure to toxic substances. Through the contributions of our partners and the open source community, that dream is becoming a reality through the Pyrrha open source project.”
In addition to the Linux Foundation, IBM and Samsung, Prometeo’s ecosystem partners in the Pyrrha community include a variety of leading tech companies and institutions:
- Arrow Electronics has helped improve Prometeo’s IoT devices.
- GRAF/Bombers de la Generalitat de Catalunya facilitated multiple rounds of field testing of testing with Prometeo’s technology during controlled burns in Spain.
- The Pau Costa Foundation is helping connect Prometeo with a global community of firefighters, and exploring opportunities for further field testing.
- Peli has contributed their expertise in creating firefighter gear to help enhance Prometeo’s hardware.
- Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona has contributed lab access and technical expertise to help calibrate devices.
IBM and The Linux Foundation have a rich history of deploying projects that help drive progress in society through innovation. The winner of the 2018 Call for Code Global Challenge, Project OWL, contributed its IoT device firmware in March 2020 as the ClusterDuck Protocol. Since then, more than a dozen Call for Code deployment projects have been open sourced for communities that need them most, with solutions ranging from disaster-response, to mitigating climate change, and promoting racial justice.
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