FIRE-FIGHTING
ROBOT
Altin Dabulla
Richard Liang
Luis Cruz
Advisor: Dr. John Ayers
Sponsored by the ECE Dept.
Statement of need
Since man first discovered fire, it has brought ease and danger to humans. Fires cost many lives each year and billions of dollars in damages. The dangerous task of putting out the fire can be left to robots and other computer-controlled machines. Fire-Fighting robots can be very important because they can react quickly to fires and save lives in cases of emergency.
The goal of this project is to build a computer-controlled robot that extinguishes the fire of a candle. The robot will compete in the 12th Annual Trinity College Fire-Fighting Home Robot Contest to be held in Hartford, CT on April 9 – 10, 2005.
Preliminary Requirements
The robot in the contest has to be a computer-controlled robot that will search, find and extinguish the fire of a candle in an arena consisting of hallways and four rooms. The approximate area of the arena is 6.15 m2.
The rules of the contest include penalties for damaging the arena or knocking the candle over before putting it out. There are bonuses given for robots that can be activated by smoke alarms, navigate around furniture, move over clutter and uneven floors and return to the starting position after putting out the fire.
The size of the robot cannot be more than 31 cm wide, 31 cm long and 27 cm high. Although there are no restrictions on the robot’s weight, the weight can determine how fast or how slow the robot moves around the arena. The cost of the robot will not exceed $1,000 and it must be built in time for the contest on April 9, 2005.
There are four divisions in the contest: Junior, High School, Senior and Expert. We will compete at the Senior Level, which is for college students and adults. This division allows for more sophisticated features to be added such as sound activation, uneven or clutter mode and means other than a fan to put out the fire.
What language do we use to program the controller?
What kind of sensors do we select for our robot?
What other means can we use to put out the flames other than a fan?
How fast should the robot run/walk?