Fire Extinguishing Robot Using Arduino

Microcontroller
Sangeeta Kurundkar1, Siddharth Nahar2, Vishwesh Meher3, Mohammad Daanish Shaikh4,
Siddhi Mundada5, Srushti Naik6 and Tejas Murkya7
Email: siddharthnahar819@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: Firefighters have to often put themselves in dangerous situations to put out or prevent
the spread of a fire. With this point in mind, we have proposed a design and implementation of a fire
extinguishing robot in this paper that will assist them in extinguishing fires in hard-to-reach areas
which will ensure their safety and protect them from harm. To build the proposed robotic model
several technologies like Arduino, Bluetooth, and Infra-Red sensing were utilized. The proposed model
will have four battery-operated (BO) motors which will be intelligently controlled by our mobile phone
using a Bluetooth module. Another mechanism is the fire control mechanism attached to the top of the
chassis. This will be controlled by another Arduino microcontroller board with the help of an infrared
sensor (photodiode) which will sense heat and in turn trigger the water pump to throw water.

KEYWORDS: Fire Extinguishing robot, Arduino, ATmega328p microcontroller, IR Sensor, Water

pump, HC-05 Bluetooth Module

INTRODUCTION
Over the past few decades, according to CTIF World Fire Statistics, it has been observed that
there has been a sudden increase in the destruction of life and property caused by fire outbreaks.
Firefighters risk their lives to douse out such fires, but it can happen sometimes they
cannot go near such fires due to reasons like toxic smoke or excessive heat. Hence this fire
extinguishing robot can be helpful in such times. A robot is a machine that looks like a human
being and performs various complex tasks. There are many types of robots such as a fixed base
robot, mobile robot, underwater robot, humanoid robot, space robot, medicine robot, etc. In this
paper, a FIRE EXTINGUISHING ROBOT is proposed. This robot is equipped with a single
flame sensor used to sense environmental fire and feed the signals to the microcontroller to
trigger the pump that sprinkles water in order to extinguish the fire. This robot is controlled using
a mobile phone.
This robot implements the concepts of environmental fire sensing, proportional motor
control. The motor driver is used for the bidirectional control of the motors equipped in the
robot. Every instruction for motion control is given to the robot with the help of Bluetooth
technology.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The authors Anthony M., Ivan O. and Randy S., in the paper “Junior design firefighting robot
project”. In this project, they worked on a robot that fights fire. This project gives ideas for a Fire
extinguisher robot. With the help of this project, we got the idea of a classic setup and the
heaviest body objects were mounted low to the ground; this factors that the centre of gravity is
very low.[1].
The author of the paper Intelligent Fire Extinguisher System is Poonam Sonsale. This robot
includes several adaptive algorithms for fire detection. This system consists of a smoke sensor,
flame sensor, temperature sensor for fire detection. It contains an intelligent multisensory-based
security system that contains a firefighting system also. Using the security system abnormal as
well as dangerous situations can be detected and notified to the robot easily. The purpose of the
Intelligent Fire Extinguisher System is to extinguish flame using water sprinklers in a certain and
minimum amount of time so it will reduce the losses due to fire.[2].
The authors Krish K., Merry S., M. Hasugian, Dan M., in the paper The Intelligent Fire Fighting
Tank Robot worked on the tank robot made from acrylic plastic and iron. In the project, they
have used various types of sensors like Ultrasonic sensor, compass sensor, flame detector,
thermal array sensor, white detector, and micro switch sensor and other components like two
servo motors, 2 DC motors for searching the certain area with fire and extinguish the flames. It
can work in room configuration with disturbance. It gives us an idea for using a sensor like an
Infrared sensor which detects the place of the fire so the robot made by them is activated through
DTMF transmitter and receiver. [3].
The author Swati Deshmukh developed a wireless Fire extinguisher robot. This is the machine
combination robot that can detect the fire and extinguish the fire. This machine has the ability to
move forward and backward. Also, it can turn left and right. Resistors depend on the light used
to detect the fire. The resistors used in this are very sensitive. These are capable of detecting very
small fires using intelligent multisensory-based security systems consisting of firefighting
systems in daily life. It gave us an idea for making a wireless robot. [4].
The author Lakshay Arora in his paper developed a Cell Phone Controlled Robot with Fire
Detection Sensors. This robot consists of a mobile phone through which the robot is controlled
by making calls to the mobile through which the robot is attached. This is the robot which
receives DTMF tones with the help of a phone placed on the robot. In the period of call
activation if any button gets pressed on the phone the corresponding tone to the button pressed is
heard at the other end of the call that is placed on the robot. [5].
The author Phyo Wai Aung developed a Remote Controlled Fire Fighting Robot. This robot
consists of two main parts: transmitter and receiver. RF module sets are used in this part. An RF
module is used to know the condition of fire and another RF module is used to transmit the data
to the motor driver. Microcontroller PIC16F887 is used to operate the robot. L298 and ULN2003
drivers are added to this system to drive the motors. It is one of the best inventions and examples
of a remote-controlled fire-fighting robot. This robot consists of a camera to see the location of
the fire. The alarm will ring if the temperature is more than 40 degrees Celsius and the operator
will control the fire-fighting robot. [6]
 METHODOLOGY
1. Theory
The microcontroller that has been used has an in-built functionality for pulse width modulation
(PWM) which is used for controlling the speed of the robot. It is a way of controlling the width
of the pulse to achieve a specific amount of power for the motor (in our project).
Pulse Width Modulation is a method of encoding a signal into periodic Pulses of equal amplitude
but varying width. The width of a pulse in the modulated signal at a given point in time is always
proportional to the amplitude of the message signal at the time. For example, if a large value of
the message signal represents a wide pulse, and a small value of the message yields a narrow
pulse. The width of the pulse is described in terms of its duty cycle, which is defined as:
d = tw / td × 100 %
Where,
tw = width of pulse
td = period of the pulse
Here, td is constant and tw is varied to get the desired output.
PWM has a linear relationship between duty cycle (d) and amplitude of message signal (Vin).
This relationship is as follows:
d ∝ Vin
⇒ d = Md. Vin

Where Md is the modulation index. [7]

2. Components
The following components have been used to develop a prototype of the project:-

2.1 ZK-4WD Smart Robot Chassis-

This is a double-decked robot chassis made of acrylic material. It consists of two acrylic decks,
four BO motors, four rubber wheels and other essential components such as:- 4 X 20 line speed
encoder (non-ordinary six-lane ten-wire), 8 X Fasteners, 1 X 3D assembly drawings, Several
pillars screw nut. It is a rapidly installable structure, which is rigid yet lightweight.

Fig. 1 ZK-4WD Chassis

 2.2 Arduino ATmega328p Microcontroller Board: -
This Microcontroller comes from the UNO family of Arduino. It is an open-source, ARM-based
technology which is developed by Arduino (company). The board comes with various sets of
analog and digital I/O pins which can be connected to other expansion shields and circuits. The
board has 14 digital I/O pins (six capable of Pulse Width Modulation or PWM output), 6 analog
I/O pins, and can be programmed using the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development
Environment), via a type B USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable. The power can be supplied by the
USB cable or by an external 9-volt battery, although voltages between 7 and 20 volts are
acceptable. [8]

2.3 Infrared sensor/receiver: -

An infrared sensor can be used for various purposes ranging from object detection, motion
detection to detecting radiation in the form of heat which is being emitted by a certain object. It
consists of the IR transmitter (transparent LED) which emits IR light, which is then caught by
the photodiode or the IR receiver (black LED). This is a way of motion detection. For sensing
heat radiation we only use the photodiode to detect heat from the fire.

2.4 Battery-Operated (BO) motors: -

These are battery-operated DC geared motors that are able to provide large RPM and torque at
lower voltages. This motor is capable of running at a maximum of 200 rpm when driven by a
single Li-Ion cell. It is great for battery-operated lightweight robots. The motor has the
functionality of running in both directions which is our main objective. We will be using four
BO motors for this project to control the robot.

2.5 HC-05 Bluetooth Module: -

HC‐05 module is an easy-to-use Bluetooth SPP (Serial Port Protocol) module, designed for a
transparent wireless serial connection setup. The HC-05 Bluetooth Module can be used in a
Master or Slave configuration, making it a great solution for wireless communication. This serial
port Bluetooth module is fully qualified Bluetooth V2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) 3Mbps
Modulation with a complete 2.4GHz radio transceiver and baseband. It uses CSR Blue core 04‐
External single-chip Bluetooth system with CMOS technology and with AFH (Adaptive
Frequency Hopping Feature). [9]

2.6 L293D Motor driver shield: -

L293D can be described as a monolithic integrated, high voltage, high current, and 4-channel
driver. This suggests that using this chip it is possible to use DC motors and power supplies of
up to 16 Volts. The chip has the ability to supply a maximum current of 600mA per channel. The
L293D chip works on the concept of H-Bridge. The H-Bridge is usually an electrical circuit that
makes it possible for a voltage to be applied across a load in either direction to output. [10]
 3. Steps in the making of the project
The following steps were involved in the making of the project -
1. The robot is a four-wheel drive robot that is controlled by four motors.
2. The chassis is assembled first and the connections are done so accordingly for a four-wheel
drive.
3. The driving of the robot is done by the Arduino microcontroller and the motor shield placed
on the lower deck of the chassis.
4. This microcontroller has a Bluetooth module attached to it for controlling from a mobile
device.
5. Necessary Arduino program will be uploaded to the microcontroller.
6. The upper deck of the chassis will have another Arduino microcontroller which will regulate
the water pump for extinguishing the fire. The reason two microcontrollers have been used is
because the controller part and the extinguisher part has to be kept separate. This led to code
separation which led to the avoidance of complex code in just one microcontroller.
Moreover, a separate power supply to the controller part meant better current output to the
B.O. motors.
7. An infrared fire sensor will provide input to the microcontroller whenever it senses a fire and
the second microcontroller will accordingly switch on the water pump and douse the fire.
8. Water will be stored in a container along with the water pump placed on the upper deck of
the chassis.
9. Finally water output will be enabled when the IR sensor senses fire.

4. Algorithm
The following algorithms and figures provide a visual representation of how the prototype
functions after complete assembly and testing. They provide information about the flow of
control transfer from one component to another.

4.1 Robot Controller Algorithm

1. The HC-05 Bluetooth module is connected to the Arduino through the RX and TX pins
(receiver and transmitter) for serial communication.
2. The Arduino program consists of five cases for the motion of the robot, namely forward,
backward, left, right and stop. These cases are assigned the strings ‘F’, ‘B’, ‘L’, ‘R’ and ‘S’
respectively as an invoking command.
3. We operate the robot using the “Arduino Bluetooth RC Car” app which is freely available on
Google Play Store. [11]
4. After pairing the mobile device with the Bluetooth module, we can operate the robot using
the application. When we press the button for forward, the ‘F’ string is transmitted to the
Arduino through the receiver Bluetooth module. A similar process is repeated for other cases
of motion.
 Fig. 7 Flow of Operation of Motors

4.2 Flame Detector and Extinguisher Algorithm

1. The photodiode in the IR sensor can effectively detect light waves of the infrared spectrum
(roughly from a wavelength of 700nm to 1000nm).
2. Since fire emits light both from the infrared and visible spectrum, this IR sensor works
efficiently for this purpose.
3. The Arduino program for this functionality is straightforward. The Digital Out pin of the IR
sensor provides input to the microcontroller. By default, it is in ‘high’ state.
4. If the sensor senses heat or fire, it sends a ‘low’ signal to the Arduino which then invokes the
mini water pump to douse out the fire.
5. Since the Arduino microcontroller cannot provide an adequate power supply to the water
pump, we attach a separate L298N motor driver to the pump. This can supply current up to
2A to the water pump which makes it powerful for throwing water.

Fig. 8 Flow of Working of Water Pump

 RESULTS
This robot is equipped with a single flame sensor used to sense environmental fire and feed the
signals to the microcontroller to trigger the pump that sprinkles water in order to extinguish the
fire. The Bluetooth module is connected to the Arduino and the movement of the robot is
controlled using a mobile phone. The objective is to search a certain area, find and extinguish the
flame for different flame positions using a sprinkler. These functions have been depicted in the
following images. It can be said that the robot has performed according to expectations in terms
of both the given functions

Fig. 9. Lower Deck for controller mechanism

 Fig. 10. Working of Robot when the IR sensor is on.

Fig. 11. Working of Robot when the IR sensor is off.

 FUTURE SCOPE
A major drawback of the project is the use of low-heat resistant materials due to a lack of budget.
To make this project more reliable for a practical application we can use titanium for chassis
production and enclose other electronic parts properly to avoid damage due to excessive
temperatures. Regarding connectivity, the Bluetooth module can be replaced with a Wi-Fi
module or even a radio transmitter/receiver for maximum distance traversal.

The following figure represents a model of how we envisioned the robot to be actually
constructed with proper resources and funding.

The figure explains how the circuit would be protected by a titanium enclosure within a titanium
body. The most suitable fire repellent for this purpose is a water mist fire extinguisher. This type
of fire extinguisher is the most versatile as it works on multiple classes of fire such as Class A
(solid materials such as wood and paper), Class B (flammable liquid or gases), Class C
(electrical fires) and Class K (cooking fires due to vegetables and animal fats, etc.).

CONCLUSION
Concluding, by the results, it is observed that efficiency of the water pump is fairly good,
through the results it is observed that the detection of fire through infrared sensor and ejection of
water through the water hose is less than a second, nearly around half a second (500
milliseconds). This also signifies that the sensor detects the fire aggressively and therefore the
mini water pump ejects it in the same way. The Bluetooth module used in our project is very
good at communicating the information provided by the mobile phone to the serial port of the
Arduino which in turn processes the data for the motion of the robot. The IR sensor has a range
of 20cm and it transmits the digital data efficiently to the Arduino for processing to detect the
fire.

This is an ambitious project which can be further developed if the above mentioned points are
followed and implemented. This robot/robot will prove to be helpful in times when lives and
property loss are at stake.

REFERENCES
[1] Anthony M.,Ivan O.and Randy S.(2001),EE382_Jou junior design firefighting robot project,PPT. 1-48.
[2] ]Poonam Sonsale, RutikaGawas, Siddhi Pise, Anuj Kaldate , “Intelligent Fire Extinguisher System”,IOSR
Journal of Computer Engineering (IOSR-JCE) e-ISSN: 2278-0661, p- ISSN: 2278-8727Volume 16, Issue 1,
Ver. VIII (Feb. 2014), PP 59-61 www.iosrjournals.org . [3] E. Esperet and A. Piolat, “Production:
Planning and Control,” Adv. Psychol., 1991, doi: 10.1016/S0166-4115(08)61560-5.
[3] Intelligent firefighting tank robot done by author Mr. Krish Kokasih (2010) No. 1. pp 73-80.
[4] Swati Deshmukh's developed wireless Fire extinguisher robot.VOLUME- 7,ISSUE2,FEBRUARY-
2018,PRINT ISSN NO. 2277-8160.
[5] Lakshay Arora's developed cell phone controlled robot with fire detection.Vol.6 (3),2015,2954-2958,
ISSN:09759646.
[6] Phyo Wai Aung, Wut Yi Win, “Remote Controlled Fire Fighting Robot”, International Journal of Scientific
Engineering and Technology Research Volume.03, IssueNo.24, September-2014.
[7] Katsambe, Cosmas & Luckose, Vinukumar & Shahrizan, Nurul. (2017). EFFECT OF PULSE WIDTH
MODULATION ON DC MOTOR SPEED. International Journal of Students' Research in Technology &
Management. 5. 42. 10.18510/ijsrtm.2017.522.

[8] Y. A. Badamasi, "The working principle of an Arduino," 2014 11th International Conference on Electronics,
Computer and Computation (ICECCO), 2014, pp. 1-4, doi: 10.1109/ICECCO.2014.6997578.

[9] Shrestha, Rajesh. (2016). Study And Control Of Bluetooth Module Hc-05 Using Arduino Uno.
10.5281/zenodo.155270.
[10] A. Khanna and P. Ranjan, "Solar-Powered Android-Based Speed Control of DC Motor via Secure
Bluetooth," 2015 Fifth International Conference on Communication Systems and Network Technologies,
2015, pp. 1244-1249, doi: 10.1109/CSNT.2015.100.
[11] “Arduino Bluetooth RC Car” application by Andi.co https://sites.google.com/site/bluetoothrccar/.