2018 4th International Conference on Computing Communication and Automation (ICCCA)
Autonomous Firefighting Robot with
Optional Bluetooth Control
Hasan U. Zaman, Tarek Ahmed Khan, Shakila Reza Falgunee, GM Shaheedur Rashid, Fahim Hossain Talukder
Dept. of ECE, North South University,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
hasan.zaman@northsouth.edu, tarek.ahmed@northsouth.edu, reza.falgunee@northsouth.edu, g.m.rashid@northsouth.edu,
hossain.talukder@northsouth.edu
Abstract—The modern popular trend is to use robots
instead of humans to handle fire hazards. In this work, we
have tried to ease the problem of urgent fire extinguishment
by an automatic process implemented using an Arduino Uno
microcontroller. This robot can also be controlled by a user,
through its Bluetooth controlled feature and can also function
by itself whenever it is necessary. It will detect the fire by
itself and with the action of throwing water, it will extinguish
the fire until it finishes detecting the fire. This design of the
robot is simple, inexpensive and portable, making it a good
candidate for commercial purpose. By promoting the use of
this robot, the danger of risking human fire-fighters` lives can
be reduced.
Keywords— microcontroller, flame sensor fire-
extinguishing robot
I. INTRODUCTION
According to recent statistics of fires incidents, not only
in Dhaka but all over the country there have been too many
incidents of fire, which experts say are results of unplanned
urbanization and a lack of knowledge to following the
National Building Code when constructing new buildings.
From the data of Fire Service and Civil Defense
Department, in just 2016 alone, 16,858 incidents of fire
were reported across the country killing 152 people with a
loss of 240 crore 43 lacs Taka.
When a fire accident occurs, we use human resources to
rescue people and help them to get out the fire which are
not safe. Sometimes many rescuers die or get injured while
undergoing this critical condition. We can make this job
done by developing technologically advanced machines
which can make very much possible to replace humans
with robots for fighting the fire. This technology would
improve the efficiency of firefighters and would also
prevent them from risking human lives while fighting fire.
The designed robot is used to fight the fire where it is
hazardous for humans to enter. The robot can find the
location of the fire and it is able to go there autonomously.
Fire is a dangerous problem to handle with but it can be
easily solved with minimum losses by using robot. Instead
of using human, robot will be more beneficial to work in
such situation. In our project we have been made a robot
that can detect fire by flaming sensor and can pump out
water at targeting fire area. We have added one manual
controller by Bluetooth connection with it.
Anyhow if this robot fails to detect the fire in its nearby
zones, it can also be controlled manually under the
directions of a user through its Bluetooth control option.
The user can easily control and direct the robot`s
978-1-5386-6947-1/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
movement from a safe distance of approximately of 60-70
feet.
II. RELATED WORK
Rolly Firefighter Robot by William Dubel, Hector
Gongora, Kevin Bechtold, and Daisy Diaz [1] describes a
robot that searches using the floor plan of a house,
extinguishes the fire and the returns back to its original
location. The autonomous movement of the robot in the
house is achieved by data provided by an ultrasound
sensors. The operation of the extinguishing device is
implemented with an arm controlled by servo motors.
The Fire Protection Robot by Viet Do, Ryan Norder,
and Ryan Spraetz [2] enters a room and search for
extreme heat as a result for fire. It use color camera spot
where there is a huge amount of light. When the robot
reaches the light source, the heat sensor is activated to
check and see if there is any large amount of heat being
generate. If there is heat source, the fan of this robot is
turned on and starts rotating to put out the flame. If the
flame does not put off then again the fan will rotating and
when the flame is extinguish the robot leaves the home.
The Firefighting and Supervising Self-Sufficient
Robot by P. Shanmuga Prabha and N. Shivaanivarsha [3]
is an autonomous firing robot which is actually divided
into two robots. Robot 1 issues robot 2 by applying radio
frequency. Robot 2 then perceives the firing place and
drives the motor driver to that targeted area n swills out
water from the basin. Unfortunately this is found to be
lengthy process in according to a quick response.
Our project is pretty simple according to its
mechanism and cost efficient than these existing robots.
The aim of our project is to be economical and work
effectively for any situation. There are two modes of this
robot. By being autonomous it can move by itself into
multi directions, which includes rightward, leftward,
backward and frontward. It can successfully sense the fire
by itself and will align itself to a suitable position and
will spread water towards the fire zone until it stops
sensing the fire.
On the other hand, our robot also consists of a
Bluetooth control option. By any means, if this robot fails
to sense the fire, it can be controlled by user from a
distance of around which is observed to be around (60-
70) feet. The robot will then be guided regarding its way
of direction. This will be done by a wireless connection
from the Bluetooth module present in the robot and the
smart phone through which a Bluetooth app is being
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running. Therefore, we can assure that this project comes 1100 nm. It has the sensitivity varies from 1cm-1.5 feet.
with some new and different features. This returns a signal to the microcontroller that sends an
III. THEORY output signal to gear motor that moves the robot chassis
to move towards the firing area. Total 3 flame sensors have
The designed robot detects fire by three flame sensors been used (forward, rightward and leftward) to detect fire
and send signal to microcontroller Arduino UNO that has in the distinctive direction.
been programmed with C++ software connected with it. It
is connected with a 12V battery. Arduino in return sends
signal to DC gear motor which is in contact with the
wheels of the robot chassis. One DC gear motor is
connected with left wheel and the other with the right one.

Fig. 2. Circuit Diagram of the Robot (Drawn in Proteus)

V. PRINCIPLE OPERATION
This model is actually designed to develop a Fire
Fig.1. Arduino Uno (Image Source – Google) Fighting Robot using IR flame sensor technology for
remote location. It contains a water tank and a pump to
throw water which is controlled over wireless
Three individual flame sensors are used for distinctive communication. It has been programmed by Arduino
forward, rightward and leftward motion of it. For rightward UNO. This robot body moves with the output signal of
motion the left wheel moves with help of DC motor and for the microcontroller.
leftward motion the right wheel moves. This working has
been done automatically after sending fire. Motor driver
acts as a bridge between the Arduino and gear motor to
work simultaneously on both wheels. Second phase of the
work has been conducted manually with a Bluetooth app in
android phone by the user which is programmed in
Arduino. This robot can cover almost 2-3 meters distance
for detecting fire. After the detection Arduino sends signal
to the servo meter for directing the nozzle of the water
container with a pump inside it to throw water on the firing
area until it stops sensing for fire.

IV. DESIGN FRAMEWORK

This is a very simple and comes with a very reasonable

budget which consists of some basic components which
includes: Arduino Uno, Flame sensor, Servo Motor, Motor
Driver, Robot chassis consisting of wheels, a portable
water tank, and a Bluetooth module.
This model basically works under the supervision of
Arduino Uno. It is a prototype that is programmed in C
software. It can read both analog and digital signal. It gives
its output by turning the LED of flame sensor on/off and
then activates the gear motor connected with wheel of the
robot chassis. This Arduino projects program is IDE
(integrated development environment) based processing Fig. 3. Block Diagram of the System
language.
On the other hand the flame sensor detects the IR VI. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
(Infrared emission) coming out from fire. Flame sensor can It has been found that the designed robot can move by
sense through IR emission of wavelength range from 760-

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itself for any kind of detection regarding fire and it can
extinguish the fire by spreading water as soon as it senses
it.
During the making of the model, we faced some critical
situations. The robot was been observed to move by its
own as soon as it is connected to a battery source and this
continued for a lengthy time but unfortunately it could not
sense the fire around it properly. The robot kept moving on
a continuous loop. Later, we unplugged and again fixed this
by working for the C programming which was installed
into the Arduino.
However, one of the fire sensors stopped working after
some number of successful rounds of experimenting. It
was found that one of the sensors were not functioning and
not responding at all. This was then replaced with a new
alternative one and was thought to be a result of fault in the
flame sensor module itself.
Lastly, we also faced problems in setting up and
installing the servo motor into the system. The code did not
work at all on the first attempts, then we had to code again
accordingly. Since the servo motor itself is related to axis
of rotation and for which we had to introduce and fix the
code in terms of angle of rotation.
Fig. 4. Final Structure
VII. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a different style has been proposed which
extends the idea of fire extinguishment by the use of an
autonomous robot. This robot has successfully functioned
by its own with a very quick response. This invention can
actually reduce the life risk of human fire fighters. With
proper control we have managed to navigate the robot by
complete wireless Communication. The proposed method
has been implemented in a prototype means and has been
controlled from a very long distance. This model is capable
of operating in that sort of igniting area which is actually
out of reach for human beings. Its accuracy and efficiency
levels are maximum with a minimal time after the fire is
detected. This can be a very effective fire extinguisher
robot.
VIII. FUTURE WORK
We are planning for some additional new features
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ahead which will be very much essential in aiding this
robot to function more efficiently. The necessary new
additions for which we are planning are briefed below.
1) Attaching a camera and connecting a monitor
Since we know that the robot will be moving by into
the fire zone all by itself so to improve the navigation by
the user present at a distant zone, this feature will be
helpful enough. By this act, any individual can observe the
direction in which way the robot is moving to. If anyhow
the robot fails to go in the right direction, the user can
navigate robot in according to this view from camera
through its Bluetooth feature.
2) Enlarging the water tank
Due to an increase in the amount of water in the tank,
the robot will get more scope to deploy its operation in
the field. This will ultimately enhance the robot to operate
for a longer time comparatively.
3) Addition of multiple sensors
Introducing various types of sensors into the present
structure of the robot will help in great amounts.
Improving the quality of sensing for fire will be done by
an addition of temperature sensor. Afterwards, it can be
observed to measure the temperature from its surrounding
and it will then extinguish according to the intensity of
fire, more intense fire will be extinguished first and the
less ones will be in the following order. Obstacle sensors
can be attached, for which the movement of the robot will
get more simper than ever. After it sensor any obstacles
other than fire, it will drive away into another direction all
by itself.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to express our sincere thanks to our
respected supervisor and the ECE department of North
South University (NSU) for providing us all the facilities
and supports in carrying out this work.
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