Fire Fighting Robot

My project is Fire Fighting Robot, it detects flames and then moves toward the fire to extinguish it. This can be very helpful in the future of robots where robot will do everything that humans do to this day.
Paras Sandhu
Grade 9

Problem

Problem

Smoke detectors are found in buildings, their major function is to alert people that there is smoke by emitting a loud beep. They do nothing to stop the fire even if detected by smoke detectors. Relying on a smoke detector can be very harmful since it can cause delays in taking action toward the fire, as firefighters are still required to manually enter hazardous environments to extinguish fires. These delays can cause fires to spread more quickly, increasing the risk of property damage and risk the lives of firefighters.

Nowadays current solutions for fire are heavily dependent on humans as firefighting robots, which introduces several risks. Firefighters often face instant reaction conditions, and by the time they arrive at a fire, it may have already destroyed the place, causing more harm and making the situation harder to control.

 In addition, fire zones can be difficult to navigate due to waste materials like wood from the houses blocking the way to the fire, or structural collapse, all of these make even complicated to resolve the issue.

Considering these challenges, there is a need for a robot that can respond to fires immediately and safely. A fire-fighting robot that can recognize flames, move towards the fire zone, and accurately extinguish them. This would decrease the amount of time needed for a fire to be controlled and provide layers of safety for firefighters, especially in high-fire-risk situations. By making the firefighting process automatic, we could increase efficiency, minimize damage, and, save lives.

 

Method

Hypothesis

Positive Hypothesis:


If the flame sensor sends accurate data to the microcontroller, then the robot will successfully detect the flame, move toward it, and extinguish it because the motors and water pump will be properly controlled.

 

Negative Hypothesis:


If the flame sensor detects the flame, then the robot might fail to extinguish it because of inaccurate sensor data, incorrect motor movements, or wiring errors during assembly.

Null Hypothesis:


If the flame sensor detects the flame, then there will be no significant relationship between flame detection and fire extinguishing because the robot's actions may be random or ineffective.





 

Variables

 

The Manipulated Variable is how much time it takes for the fire-fighting robot to extinguish the fire

The Responding Variable is how much distance it takes to extinguish the fire.

Controlled Variable is the size of the fire and how big it will be.

 

Analysis

These analysis include the major things one could see while building and testing the robot for firefighting purposes. Also, it helped to know how these components interacted and the effectiveness of the robot in detecting and putting out fires.

First observation occurred during assembling the robot equipment. Wiring should be precise and connection tight for proper performance. For instance, a loose wire connected from the flame sensor to Arduino causes the sensor to detect fire but not to trigger the movement of the motor. This observation shows the importance of connection for reliability. 

Once I felt secure with the components, I started observing the variable sensitivity of the flame sensor to different flame intensities. The sensor was responding well to a small flame from a lighter and directing the robot towards it. 

However, a larger flame, that of a candle, prompted the robot to react even faster than the flame from the lighter. This might mean it responds even less quickly to the smaller flame from the lighter. Therefore, this should tell about the balance of the sensitivity of the sensor to the size of the flame. Hence, it might change the effectiveness of the robot that responds to fire in terms of different fire intensities.

 

The movement of the robot was effective on smooth surfaces, whereas it was not very effective on rough surfaces. The BO motors could not maintain speed on uneven surfaces, which would hinder the robot in quickly reaching a fire in an environment having objects. Therefore, this indicates necessity for more powerful motors or better traction for outdoor or industrial use. 

Another observation that was important was regarding how the water pump performed. In the beginning, the water pressure was so low that I had to bring the robot very close to the fire. 

After adjusting the pressure of the pump, I could use the robotic firefighter at a greater distance to extinguish the flames.

When the robot trials took place, the fire detection was best effective when fire was in front of it, at angles, or behind obstacles. Limited detection was found with flame due to the narrowness of the sensor field of view. The addition of a few more sensors or a rotating mechanism can help it in detecting the fires at different angles, thus serving as a better detector. 

The robot is now performing another activity, which is very important. From the detection of fire to proceeding towards it and, finally, spraying the water at the fire, the robot has done all the activities without the participation of humans. This kind of action confirms the possibility of this robot to serve as an automatic fire-fighting system. 

However, the operations depend a lot on sensor accuracy and environmental conditions, so improving their reliability is necessary in various situations. 

Tests indicated that the batteries drained very quickly, particularly when the water pump was running. Obviously, this calls for a better power supply or larger power bank to enable the robot to work for hours on end, particularly while on continuous duty like firefighting. 

Thus, the robot was fairly rated during testing, but improvements must be made in its sensor sensitivity, rough terrain travel capability, water pump pressure, and battery life for real-world applications.

 

Conclusion

The fire-fighting robot project has successfully proven its capability to autonomously detect and extinguish small flames in fulfillment of the main goal of the experiment. The combination of the flame sensor, Arduino microcontroller, BO motors, and water pump made the robot able to move toward the fire and spray water in order to put it out, forming an effective prototype to minimize fire hazards.

The key results of this experiment showed that sensor accuracy and responsiveness were critical to the robot's performance. The flame sensor worked very well for small to medium flames, while in cases where the fire source was positioned at angles beyond the field of vision of the sensor or obstructed positions, the robot was unable to work efficiently. Therefore, it can be concluded that in the future, adding more sensors or increasing the range of an existing sensor would enhance the robot's ability to work in complex environments greatly. 

The robot was able to traverse the flat terrain very smoothly and comfortably; however, on rough terrain, the speed and maneuverability of the robot became not very easy. This justifies the need for stronger motors or better traction mechanisms in such scenarios relevant to the real world, where rough surfaces or obstacles may exist. Another conclusion was that adjusting water pressure was critical to putting out the fire effectively. After the pump pressure increased, the robot was able to put out fires from a longer distance, assisting in its overall functionality.

This project has overall demonstrated that the fire-fighting robot performs excellently in controlled conditions, yet the performance is to be optimized for more challenging or real-world applications. Therefore, results from this experiment shall facilitate the guiding ideas for future advancements, such as improving sensor coverage, increasing mobility performance, and enhancing power management to prolong operational duration.

 

Acknowledgement