A Journey Begins

There are many instances of fires that start without the knowledge of the individual nearby. Even if the person is aware, they may or may not be able to respond with the appropriate measures due to limitations such as age (small children or the elderly). Such fires that are not taken care of quickly can spread and be extremely dangerous for the occupants within the building.

  

In recognition of this problem, we have decided to pursue the development of a firefighting robot that can detect and respond to fires automatically and put them out with precision. This will be useful for any fires that originate in the kitchen, or due to electrical hazards caused in electronics workshop, or rooms where young children or older individuals live in. Such a robot would be able to mitigate dangers and save potential lives by detecting fires and putting them out before they begin to pose a risk to the people around them. 


According to the U.S Fire Administration, statistical data about fires collected between 2009 and 2018 provides an analysis of the scope and status of the fire problem in the US. As demonstrated in the figures below, cooking fires are the leading cause of residential fires with 50.7% being cooking-related out of a statistical pool of 379,600 fires. Fire deaths have demonstrated an upward trend over the years with 3,655 deaths in 2018. Lastly, there has been an increase in fire dollar loss due to damages caused on residential homes seeing a 25.6-billion-dollar loss in 2018. 

 

  

 U.S. fire statistics. (2020, April 16). Retrieved September 09, 2020, from https://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/

 

Our team has been debating effective solutions for the inclusion of kitchen fires into our scope. While the detection of flames isn't the problem, we will have to set a boundary line within the sensor to detect fires above a certain height for sensible use of the robot. We are also looking into the materials that can be used to put out the fires. A liquid-based material would be ideal for a longer range on the robot’s spray, while a powder would have a shorter range but can take care of bigger fires. Our next steps are to investigate these details after our meeting with our assigned advisor.    

 

 


 

 

 

 

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