Design and Analysis of All-Terrain Differential-Driven Caterpillar-Wheeled Based Unmanned Fire Extinguisher Robot

Abstract

The usage of wheeled robots in service robots such as planetary exploration robots, pick-and-place robots, cleaning robots, surveillance robots, etc., is continuously increasing day by day. The primary purpose of these service robots is to reduce human resources and minimize human life risk in a hazardous environment. Therefore, in this article, the authors purpose and design the all-terrain differential-driven caterpillar-wheeled based unmanned Fire Extinguisher Robot (FER), which can detect and monitor the fire by using gas (smoke) sensor and temperature sensor. Also, it can extinguish the fire by spreading the fire extinguisher gas. The proposed unmanned FER has been divided into the two assembled units, one unit drives the FER, and another unit is for spreading the fire extinguisher gas through the nozzle of the cylinder. The driving unit of unmanned FER consists of six DC geared motors, two dual DC motor drivers, caterpillar driving wheels, Arduino MEGA microcontroller, Bluetooth module, gas sensor, temperature sensor, and rechargeable lithium-polymer (LiPo) battery. Next, the one DC motor connected with a motor driver controls the fire extinguisher gas cylinder's open and close valve through a Bluetooth signal from an android phone. The specially designed chassis and caterpillar driving wheel arrangement help the FER to travel in any terrain, including stair climbing. Real-time experimental tests have been carried out on the designed unmanned FER during the fire extinguishing process to prove the effectiveness of the developed FER.