2023-12-26 01:05:14
Fight a fire using a robot? This is what a group of Japanese researchers from the University of Osaka and Tohoku have come up with, with a design inspired by “flying dragons”, as detailed in the magazine Frontiers in Robotics and AI, which echoed the details.
The prototype, nicknamed “Dragon Firefighter”, has a four-meter-long hose that can change shape and is manageable from a distance, comments the magazine article.
“We present here a prototype of a flying robot with a four-meter-long fire hose and remote control, designed to extinguish fires in buildings safely and effectively by approaching the sources directly,” explains Dr. Yuichi Ambe, co-author of the article and associate professor at Osaka University.
“Put out the most dangerous fires”
“Imagine a flying dragon that does not shoot fire, but rather extinguishes it with bursts of water,” summarizes the magazine in statements reported by the Efe agency. The goal, they say, is to help extinguish fires that are too dangerous for humans to approach.
As stated Frontiers in Robotics and AI, the design is Open Science, which means that researchers around the world can use these plans to build their own “Dragon Firefighter.” The authors hope that real-world applications will be possible within a decade.
The hose is propelled upwards (flying two meters above the ground) using eight controllable water jets that sprout from its center and head, as detailed by Efe. This can change shape and be directed towards the flames, directed by an external control unit. The hose is connected via a supply pipe to a fire truck with a 14,000 liter water tank.
The nozzles shoot water at a speed of 6.6 liters per second. In addition, at the tip of the hose there is a conventional camera and another thermal imaging camera, which help locate the location of the fire.
Fireballs
The “Dragon Firefighter” received its approval at the opening ceremony of a global robot summit held in September 2021 in Fukushima, Japan. There it successfully extinguished, in 49 minutes, the ceremonial flame, formed by fireballs lit by another robot, at a distance of four meters.
aa (Efe, Frontiers in Robotics and AI)
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