Robots might be useful aides for most first responders, allowing them to remotely monitor or act in regions that are inaccessible or dangerous for people. Firefighters, who are at great danger of injury while on the job, would surely benefit from the support of dependable mobile robots.
Researchers from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid have developed an autonomous ground robot that might help firemen deal with situations in enclosed spaces. This device, described in the Journal of Field Robotics, might help firefighters better organise their interventions by creating safe approaches to impacted locations and assisting them during evacuations.
“This work is part of a project called HelpResponder, which seeks to minimise accident rates and intervention team mission durations,” Noelia Fernández Talavera, one of the study’s researchers, told Tech Xplore. “This is accomplished via the use of fixed beacons, drones, and ground robots. The ground robot was created as part of a BSc project and assists emergency personnel by collecting environmental factors in real time.”
Recent research on the development of flames in Spain have emphasised the need for new technology that might help firefighters. These works gathered information regarding mishaps that impacted responding agents who handled missions in interior settings, such as the collapse of buildings or the development of illnesses caused by hazardous gas inhalation.
“These numbers highlight the need of firefighters knowing the environment before acting,” Talavera added. “Any information on the location of the flames, the presence of dangerous gases, and the potential routes is important in order to carry out more effective and safe interventions.”
Talavera and her colleagues’ robot can observe its surroundings and share the data it gathers with human operators. This is accomplished by the use of numerous sensors that can monitor the temperature, humidity, and air quality in an interior environment, as well as its own and other objects’ positions. This information is then kept in a database, which firemen may access remotely through a smartphone app.
“The robot has three operating modes to deal with various conditions,” Talavera said. “In manual mode, an operator may produce speed instructions remotely by using a keyboard, joystick, or joypad. The operator may also operate the robot using a graphical user interface or from a direct view. In this instance, the interface must give enough information to maintain their situational awareness, such as a scene map, the robot’s precise position, photographs from its camera, and so on.”
The robot’s second operating mode, named autonomous mode, enables it to explore an interior area freely while avoiding possible impediments. It depends on a coverage route planning algorithm to do this, which utilises data acquired by the embedded sensors to locate the robot, detect and identify obstacles in its surroundings, and lead it through a sequence of waypoints.
“In autonomous mode, the robot may explore whole rooms and passageways while delivering local information on environmental conditions,” Talavera said. “Finally, the evacuation mode generates quick and secure pathways to objectives. This mode computes the shortest route from the current point to the desired one using previous information about the scene. This target point might be the building’s exit or the location of a victim, among other things.”
The researchers’ robot is modular in design, which means that more components (such as thermal cameras or other sensors) may be added to it without changing its main architecture. Moreover, the robot is compact and built using low-cost components. This enables it to reach locations that human agents cannot, while also simplifying large-scale deployment.
Telavera and her colleagues put their robot through a battery of testing, including simulations and field experiments. Their findings were quite encouraging, as the robot was capable of performing a variety of duties while autonomously avoiding obstacles and providing important assistance to firemen.
Because of its sturdy components and strong battery autonomy, the robot was able to complete many missions in a single day during testing. The researchers also constructed robot simulations that might assist firemen prepare for future interventions in indoor situations, such as identifying the most efficient and safe approaches to a target place or just practising operating the robot.
“We created our technology in partnership with its end users and evaluated it in extremely realistic settings,” Talavera said. “The actual tests were carried out at Alcorcón’s Unified Safety Center, in partnership with the city’s Fire Department. The findings revealed that the prototype can operate in tough environments and detect hot and poisonous foci within the intervention map. The successfully covers situations and avoids obstructions, allowing firefighters to make rapid judgements based on data received and develop an intervention plan.”
Talavera and her colleagues’ robot might soon be used and tested by other fire departments. Moreover, it might encourage the development of comparable robotic devices to aid other first responders, such as police officers or teams conducting search and rescue operations.
“The next stages in our study will be to improve the autonomous navigation system by including ROS and to upgrade the simulator to simulate dynamic scenarios where fire and smoke move in the same manner as they would in actual conditions,” Talavera stated. “A web platform encompassing many technologies is also being built so that data gathered by the robot, drones, and beacons can be evaluated concurrently. As a result, the system will be simpler to operate and more helpful in an emergency.”
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