Yiannis Levendis, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern University, has developed a prototype firefighting robot that sprays liquid nitrogen onto flames to extinguish them quickly. “Liquid nitrogen, when thrown on fire, quickly evaporates and expands into gas almost 1,000 percent,” Levendis said. Northeastern Global News reported that the robot is designed to suppress small fires and hotspots before they grow into major wildfires. Levendis also believes the cryogenic system could eventually be adapted for much larger firefighting vehicles. Cryogenic storage, transportation logistics and the amount of nitrogen required for sustained firefighting would all need to be addressed.