Hardware

FLIR Camera

A FLIR camera is a thermal imaging camera that forms images from long-wave infrared radiation emitted by objects, named after FLIR Systems (now part of Teledyne), the dominant manufacturer whose brand became shorthand for the sensor class. Thermal cameras perceive temperature contrast rather than reflected light, operating in darkness, smoke, and fog. In robotics they serve inspection, firefighting, search and rescue, and human detection tasks; Teledyne FLIR also sells widely used machine-vision RGB cameras under the Blackfly line.

Why it matters for physical AI

Sensing modalities beyond visible light extend where robots can operate; thermal imaging gives reliable human and hotspot detection for safety and inspection missions that RGB-only perception stacks cannot cover.