Problem Overview
The objective of this project is to design a robot that can successfully navigate through a floor of a house in order to locate and extinguish a fire. The main purpose of this exercise is to create an autonomous robot which could potentially put out fires to save people from a burning building without putting the lives of others in jeopardy. The goal is to design the robot which can do this in the quickest and most efficient way, to reduce the time that people in the house would be at risk. This is a very useful and important competition, so it sounded like a very good one to take part in.
Design Constraints
First of all, the robot has to be self controlled without any human intervention. Also, the robot can't damage the walls around it or leave a trail behind it by dropping things. Dimension-wise, the robot must fit in a Bounding Box with a base 31 x 31 cm square and 27 cm high (including feelers). These dimensions are set for the competition, therefore even while putting out the candle nothing can extend past these set dimensions. There are no restrictions on the weight, sensors, or the materials used for the robot. If a light sensor is used, then the ambient light must be taken into account the ambient lighting. The area will have cameras around taking pictures of the robot, therefore the robot has to function while flashes are going off.
The candle flame will be from 15 cm to 20 cm above the nominal floor level. The candle thickness normally will be between 2 cm and 3 cm. The exact height and size of the flame will change throughout the contest depending upon the condition of candle and its surroundings. The robot is required to find the candle no matter what the size of the flame is at that particular moment. The placement of the candle will be randomized between the rooms. Since the candle isn't anchored to the floor, there will be a penalty for knocking it over. There may be many ways to extinguish the fire, but the 3 acceptable ways are by: air, carbon dioxide, or water mist/spray. [1]
Pre-Existing Solutions
There are many examples of robots that fight fire. The majority of these that are in use with emergency services are not autonomous though. Due to the life or death nature of fighting fire there cannot be room for error on the part of an autonomous robot. These all use water or an alternative extinguishing agent.
However there are autonomous robots out there and these stem from a series of competitions where a robot must seek out a candle in a mock floor plan. Common to these is a wall avoidance system as well as a way to detect the candle, either through light or heat. What differs between the robots is the means of extinguishing the candle. Methods vary and some examples are a fan, a water stream and a wet sponge. What unifies these methods is that they either use water, wind or suffocation to put out the flame.
Design Goal
The goal is to create a robot that will successfully navigate the floor of the house and extinguish the fire as quickly as possible. The robot should be able to navigate the house without running into or touching and walls. The robot should also avoid entering any unnecessary rooms that don't contain the fire(s). Also, the aim is to create an efficient extinguisher that is as small and light as possible as to be capable of extinguishing the fire while not hingering the robot's ability to turn and move.
While using Java or C++ would increase the flexibility and versatility of the robot, only one member is knowledgeable in either programming language. The time it would take for other members to learn either language would be inefficient and would simply slow the programming process. Therefore it will be better to program the robot using the Lego NXT visual programming language with which all group members have a fair amount of experience. This would allow all members to contribute to the programming process rather than just one member who is competent with the language.
Deliverables
Throughout the course of the quarter, there will some
deliverables associated specifically with this project. They are as follows:
1.
Fire Extinguisher –The robot is required
to extinguish the flame of a small candle.
To do this, the robot must have some device that is able to perform this
function.
2.
Physical Design – The robot has to be
able to navigate through a house-like course, avoiding walls and finding the
candle’s flame in a specific room. The
robot, along with its sensors, must be designed and placed strategically to
accomplish these tasks.
3.
Coding – Along with the physical design,
the robot’s code also has to take advantage of its sensors and motors in order
to accomplish its task of extinguishing the fire.
4.
Competition (Week 9) – During week 9, a
competition will be held amongst all fire-fighting robots to determine which
one puts in the flame most efficiently and effectively.
5.
Weekly Blog Updates (Due in Week 6 & 9)
- Each week, the blog must be updated describing the work which has been done
on the project up to that point.
6.
Draft of Final Report (Due in Week 8) -
The draft report is rough draft of the final report, due in week 10.
7.
Final Report (Due in Week 10) - The final
report will address all comments received from the draft report and include
results from the final competition.
8.
Presentation (Week 10) – A final
presentation, outlining the project and final results, will be given in week
10.
Project Schedule
Over the course of the term, the project will follow the
following schedule:
Week
|
Intended
Goals
|
3
|
Research and design an extinguishing
device.
|
4
|
Complete the robot’s initial physical
design.
|
5
|
Complete the robot’s initial coding.
|
6
|
Test and update design.
|
7
|
Test and update design.
|
8
|
Final preparations and last minute changes.
|
9
|
Final Competition
|
Projected Budget
Due to the Lego NXT Kit being provided by the lab, this project will not require much of a budget. The following materials will be required:
1. Infrared Sensor - $50 - used to detect the infrared light of the flame. Possible options are Dexter
Thermal Infrared Sensor or the Lego NXT Infrared Seeker. [2,3,4]
2. Handheld Fan - $15 - a small handheld fan used either for its parts or actual use as the fire
extinguisher.
3. Candle - $5 - a small candle used to test the robot.
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