Scientists develop ‘flying dragon’ robot to fight fires remotely

Imagine a flying dragon that doesn’t breathe fire, but puts it out with jets of water. Thanks to a team of Japanese researchers, this new type of beast could soon be recruited into fire crews around the world, to help put out fires too dangerous for their human teammates to approach.

The plan for this new firefighting robot, called Dragon Firefighter, was published in Frontiers of robotics and AI. And since it was published under the title Open Science, roboticists around the world can freely use these plans to build their own Dragon firefighters, for the benefit of all.

“Here we present a prototype of a four-meter-long, remotely controllable flying fire-throwing robot designed to extinguish fires in buildings safely and effectively by directly approaching fire sources,” said the Dr. Yuichi Ambe, assistant professor at the university. Osaka University.

A research team from Professor Satoshi Tadokoro’s laboratory at Tohoku University began working on similar flying robots in 2016. Since then, 11 researchers and students have contributed to its development. Before and during development, they liaised with Japanese firefighters to better understand their needs.

Jet propulsion

The Dragon Firefighter’s fire hose is propelled upward (flying two meters above the ground) by eight controllable jets of water shooting from its center and head. The fire hose can change shape and be aimed towards the flames, directed by a control unit located behind a wheeled cart. The trolley is connected by a supply tube to a fire truck with a 14,000 liter water tank.

The nozzles spray water at a rate of 6.6 liters per second with a pressure of up to one megapascal. The end of the hose contains a conventional and thermal camera, which helps pinpoint the location of the fire.

The Fire Dragon received its baptism of fire during the opening ceremony of the World Robot Summit 2020 (WRS2020), which was held in September 2021 in Fukushima. There, he managed to extinguish (49:00 to 51:00) the ceremonial flame, made up of fireballs lit by another robot, at a distance of four meters. In addition to detailing its design, this study also discusses lessons learned during this first demonstration of the Dragon’s capabilities, as well as improvements made since then.

Dr. Yu Yamauchi, assistant professor at Akita Prefectural University and another corresponding author, said: “Since the demonstration at WRS2020, we have continued to work on improving our Dragon and learned many new things. »

“For example, we found that the original passive damping mechanism that counteracts the Dragon Firefighter’s body oscillations was impractical: preparing for flight took too long. We also found that the heat from fires can cause detrimental plastic deformation in exterior applications of the corrugated tube that holds the water pipe and electrical cables.

Other improvements detailed in the study include better sealing, a nozzle unit capable of handling a wider range of net forces, and an improved mechanism for channeling water flow. But other developments are underway.

Ready to fly in 10 years

“We estimate that it will take about another 10 years to deploy our robot in real-world firefighting scenarios,” Ambe said.

“The main challenge will be to extend its range beyond 10 meters. Developing effective firefighting tactics, tailored to the unique capabilities of this robot, will also be a key aspect of further development.”