FIRE FIGHTING SWARM ROBOTS
Nowadays, a major goal is to have more efficiency in less time. Our targeted area is the "Fire Fighting Process". Because damage due to fire is directly proportional to time. In few minutes, fire causes unbearable loss. Our motivation is to make the firefighting process fast. In this way, we are
2025-06-28 16:32:36 - Adil Khan
FIRE FIGHTING SWARM ROBOTS
Project Area of Specialization RoboticsProject SummaryNowadays, a major goal is to have more efficiency in less time. Our targeted area is the "Fire Fighting Process". Because damage due to fire is directly proportional to time. In few minutes, fire causes unbearable loss. Our motivation is to make the firefighting process fast. In this way, we are planning of having robots that can communicate, share their work, and extinguish the fire in the least possible time.
- Work efficiency is increased
- Less time consumed
- Workload is divided
Team of Robots which can share data and information of the attached modules and can request help, when the other Robot is not engaged at any other place for extinguishing the fire. In this way by communicating and sharing work, the fire extinguishing process results in a more effective way. Our system tends to improve this approach by adding additional functionality of communication motivated by the field of swarm robotics to our Robots. Information from sensors and camera robots are well aware of the condition of fire so their communication results in more information about surrounding and selecting the right action are easy for robots.
Robots will move freely in search of fire and when one finds fire, will starts extinguishing the fire at some specific distance and also shares their location details with the other robot and ask for help. The second robot will receive the request if it is not extinguishing the fire means its “set_state” is free and ready to fight with the fire it will move to the requested location details shared by the first robot and both the Robots will extinguish the fire.
Implementation of the prototype with some functionalities of swarm robotics like communication in order to achieve efficiency in the least possible time. The major functionalities of our product are described in the following sections:
- Autonomous Movement
- Fire Detection
- Communicate
- Extinguish Fire
Firstly, Robots will communicate with each other when they detect fire and when their work is complete to improve the work performance in less time. The robot will assist each other when both are free or at least one is free when both robots are busy they will do their own job. Internal communication is done using components like NodeMCU etc. Messages and data remain inside the robot so, no communication with the outside world.
Secondly, the communication between the components of the system has key Importance, as they depend on each other. However, in what way the Communication is done is not important for the system and is, therefore, it is controlled by the underlying operating system. No, specific protocols are used for communication as per the requirement of the system. Data of some sensors and output value of the Fire detection model are interchanged.
Objectives of the system are:
- Communication directly between Robots.
- Enhance the efficiency of work done by Robots.
- Make electronic interaction feasible for Robots.
- Reduce the effect of Human labor on the level of destruction.
- Movement, Identification, actions, and knowledge about work are autonomous.
- Have some required functionalities of swarm robotics.
Since the system is hardware-based (Two car shaped robots), it requires raspberry pi as a processor (minicomputer) that is the central processing unit for all components. Also, the General Processing Unit is required for model training that will detect fire. Then weights of these models are transferred to raspberry Pi.
Project Implementation MethodOur system is mostly depending on hardware. We are doing sensor data processing and communications between different hardware components. As a result, the reliability of our project highly depends on the reliability of the singular hardware components and their interfaces. Firstly, we used components after testing and the circuitry is proper so, the system is reliable. Secondly, System will go through several testing stages before launch. We are using Raspberry Pi, Arduino, PI Cam, GPS module, NodeMCU module, Compass module, and other necessary modules that are essential for Moving Robots. When Fire is detected the robot will communicate with the other robot and both the robots will extinguish the fire at the same time decreasing the time and loss due to fire. As this is a prototype of the idea using swarm robotics so it can be enhanced by giving more budget and time to the project.
Benefits of the ProjectThe system's main benefit is that more than one robot is working to extinguish the fire which results in higher efficiency and minimum loss. Decisions of Robot depends upon the microcontroller which takes input from sensors and machine learning model. Detecting and extinguishing the fire in the least possible time is the ideal/satisfactory situation for this user. The robots will move autonomously by avoiding hurdles in search of fire. Robots will detect fire whenever fire comes in their specified surrounding. Robots will communicate when they detect fire and when their work is complete. When “Robot A” detects fire it will communicate with “Robot B” and set its “set_state” busy and vice versa. Similarly, when any robot did its work it communicates and set their “set_state” to free. After detecting fire, robots will start work to extinguish the fire with help of water motors.
Communication and sharing of tasks between robots is our priority. Robots will move freely in search of fire and when one finds fire, will starts extinguishing the fire at some specific distance and also shares their location details with the other robot and ask for help. The second robot will receive the request if it is not extinguishing the fire means its “set_state” is free and ready to fight with the fire it will move to the requested location details shared by the first robot and both the Robots will extinguish the fire.
Technical Details of Final DeliverableBrief communication: When “Robot A” detects fire it will communicate with “Robot B” and set its “set_state” busy and vice versa. Similarly, when any robot did its work it communicates and set their “set_state” to free.
NodeMCU: It is used for communication. It is a WIFI module. This component is attached with raspberry pi on both robots.
Movement: Robots are launched in a specific environment and they will start moving by avoiding hurdles. The main purpose of the movement is to detect fire in the least possible time.
Ultrasonic sensors: These sensors are attached with the raspberry pi and based on their output both robots are able to know that some hurdle is present in their path and they will start moving in some other direction.
Fire Detection: This is a crucial and challenging functionality of our product. The purpose is to make sure to identify and detect fire as soon as possible.
Flame sensor: Flame sensors are installed on both robots and their description is discussed in later sections. The output from this sensor is added with the output from the machine learning model. This model returns its output in real-time by taking camera videos as input. The video will be divided into frames and depending upon the training (learning) of the model its return its output that it either detected fire or not. In short, depending upon the sensor and machine learning model fire is identified and the desired operation is taken.
Extinguish Fire: After detection of fire, robots will move for their final duty/task that is to extinguish the fire.
The water pump is attached to both robots. Servo motors allow to rotate for specific angles and to shower water in more than one direction. Limited resources of water are present in the water tank that is approximately half litter. Tanks will be Re-filled manually.
| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 64166 | |||
| Raspberry PI | Equipment | 2 | 16500 | 33000 |
| Arduino Uno | Equipment | 2 | 950 | 1900 |
| Pi camera | Equipment | 2 | 5500 | 11000 |
| NodeMCU ESP8266 | Equipment | 4 | 600 | 2400 |
| GPS Module Neo-6M | Equipment | 2 | 985 | 1970 |
| Compass Module HMC-5883L | Equipment | 2 | 798 | 1596 |
| IR Infrared Flame Sensor | Equipment | 4 | 180 | 720 |
| Ultrasonic Sensor | Equipment | 4 | 250 | 1000 |
| L298N Motor Driver | Equipment | 2 | 240 | 480 |
| Body and Gear Motors | Equipment | 2 | 1500 | 3000 |
| 12V Battery | Equipment | 2 | 500 | 1000 |
| Water Pump | Equipment | 2 | 350 | 700 |
| Switches, Wires | Equipment | 4 | 100 | 400 |
| Others` | Miscellaneous | 1 | 5000 | 5000 |