Development of an autonomous fire extinguishing robot

Abstract:
Robotic systems are being integrated into an ever-growing number of areas of everyday life. They offer many advantages and new possibilities. The use of robotic systems by fire brigades to fight fires at a safe distance to reduce the involved risks is also gaining more importance every year. Most systems are currently used outdoors and are largely controlled manually while maintaining line of sight. Thus, fewer firefighters have to risk their lives in dangerous operations, while they can still extinguish fires effectively. Especially in industrial environments, fires often cause severe damage and can be more dangerous due to chemicals. In this paper, a newly developed modular autonomous robot platform is presented to minimise this risks. This platform was developed to detect and extinguish incipient fires in industrial indoor environments at an early stage. For this purpose, various autonomy functions and hardware modules were developed and tested under real conditions.