Autonomous Fire Extinguisher Robot for Rapid Indoor Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fire extinguishers are often placed at strategic locations, leaving some areas in buildings disadvantaged and far from access, and predicting fire locations is unpredictable, making it challenging to ensure fire extinguishers are available when needed.
Innovation Solution
A robotic device equipped with sensors, a processor, and mecanum wheels that can autonomously navigate and map its environment to reach fire locations, allowing for efficient deployment of fire extinguishing resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If more fire extinguishers are placed throughout a building, then fire extinguisher availability improves, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the static fire suppression system into a dynamic one by deploying mobile robotic units that can autonomously navigate to fire locations. Instead of having fixed extinguishers at every potential fire point, the system uses robots that move dynamically throughout the building, responding to fire alarms and autonomously navigating to incident locations to deliver extinguishing agents.
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic fire suppression system operates autonomously without requiring human intervention. The robots self-navigate to fire locations using onboard sensors and processors, automatically deploy extinguishing agents, and return to base stations for recharging or refilling, thereby serving themselves and eliminating the need for manual operation.
2Ease of operation
If fire extinguishers are placed at central locations, then accessibility from majority of areas improves, but response time to distant fires worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces static central fire extinguisher locations with dynamic mobile robots that can move throughout the entire building. When a fire alarm is detected, the robots dynamically route themselves to the fire location, ensuring optimal response time regardless of distance from central locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic units are pre-positioned at base stations throughout the building before fires occur. When fires are detected, they are already in strategic locations ready to deploy, eliminating the time delay associated with retrieving extinguishers from distant central locations.
3Device complexity
If traditional stationary fire extinguishers are used, then device simplicity improves, but adaptability to different fire locations worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms stationary fire extinguishers into mobile robotic units that can dynamically reposition themselves to any fire location in the building. The robots maintain relative simplicity in their core fire suppression function while gaining adaptability through autonomous navigation capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic fire suppression units serve multiple functions: they navigate autonomously, detect fires using onboard sensors, deliver extinguishing agents, and return to base stations for replenishment. This multi-functionality allows a single device type to handle fires throughout the entire building, replacing the need for multiple specialized stationary extinguishers.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is provide a robotic device, including: a chassis; a set of wheels; a control system; a battery; one or more sensors; a processor; a tangible, non-transitory, machine readable medium storing instructions that when executed by the processor effectuates operations including: capturing, with the one or more sensors, data of an environment of the robotic device and data indicative of movement of the robotic device; generating or updating, with the processor, a map of the environment based on at least a portion of the captured data; and generating or updating, with the processor, a movement path of the robotic device based on at least the map of the environment.