2019 5th International Conference for Convergence in Technology (I2CT)
Pune, India. Mar 29-31, 2019
The Design of a Novel Multi-Purpose Fire Fighting
Robot with Video Streaming Capability
Md. Aowrongajab Uaday, Md. Nazmul Islam Shuzan, Saffan Shanewaze, Rakibol Islam Rakib, Hasan U. Zaman
Department of ECE, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
aowrongajab.uaday@northsouth.edu, nazmul.shuzan@northsouth.edu, saffanshanewaze10@gmail.com,
rakib26650@gmail.com, hasan.zaman@northsouth.edu
Abstract- In this work we introduce a novel design of a
multi-purpose fire-fighting robot which, with the help of a
streaming video camera attached to it, transmits live video
from its surroundings to a remote location from where the
robot can be controlled. The robot can be mobilized and
directed to the spot of the fire and throw water at the fire. It
uses RF signal for communication and it is capable of
performing three different functions related to firefighting
operation. First, it can remove smoke from the location of fire
using a suction vacuum fan and a cylinder attached to it, so
people do not suffocate from smoke inhalation. Second, it takes
continuous snaps of its surroundings to detect human faces
using Viola-Jones face detection algorithm, so the rescue squad
can know from a safe distance if there are trapped people who
need to be rescued. Third, it can throw water at the fire at any
angle using a rotating nozzle controlled by a remotely
controlled servo motor. This multi-purpose fire-fighting robot
is inexpensive but reliable. It can effectively reduce the human
risk of fire-fighting operation. The design of the robot is cost
effective, which makes it especially attractive for deployment in
developing countries.
Keywords-Fire-Fighting, Robot, Image Processing, Face
Detection, Vacuum Fan, Water Pump nozzle, Camera, Arduino,
cost effective, Radio Controller, Multi-Purpose.
I. INTRODUCTION
Developing countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan,
Pakistan and India have numerous fire incidents in which a
lot people lose their lives. Furthermore, fire incidents happen
most commonly in family houses, processing plants, research
centers, factory buildings and so on. In the absence of
modern hardware and machines, firefighters need to risk
their lives to save others’ lives in a hazardous situation
caused by fire. In short, there is an inherent danger for the
firefighters whose primary duties are rescue people from fire
and other hazardous situations. This is the main reason which
motivated us to work on developing a firefighter robot.
This firefighting robot has four wheels and everything
that is required to extinguish fire around it. This can be
controlled from a distance of 600 meter away. The installed
camera on it enables viewing what is happening at the
location of the fire. Since most deaths occur due to
suffocation and smoke inhalation, the robot has a vacuum fan
which removes smoke and hazardous gas from the spot. It
uses image processing techniques to identify human faces to
determine if there are trapped people in the fire. It has four
big wheels with good grips to move over small obstacles. It
also includes a water tank and a powerful motor below the
tank to throw water onto the fire. Water thrown can go up to
several meters from the throwing nozzle, so the robot can be
positioned at a safe distance from the fire.
978-1-5386-8075-9/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE
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In addition to fire incidents, in recent days earthquake has
become a key problem in many countries of the world. As
noted above, the designed machine is a versatile robot which
can also be used in earthquake situations as well to help
rescue victims. It can be dispatched inside collapsed
buildings with some information and medicine to assist
people.
II. RELATED WORK
A good amount of work has been done in the design of
firefighting robots. Somewhat related work was done by
Maddukuri et al. [1]. They did a brilliant job but they were
excessively reliant on sensors, whereas we have introduced
the idea of using a FPV (First Person View) camera instead
of sensors, so we can visualize the scenario instead of
depending on the sensors only. Any sort of sensor
malfunction can put the victim’s life in danger, but a
functioning visual monitoring capability removes that
uncertainty. Although they focused on the fact of making it
cheaper, but nothing is worth more than lives. Also, they
relied only on the fire extinguishing capability and the toxic
gas detector, but we implemented both vacuum fan and water
tank together.
Hwang et al. [2] made a robot with a thermal camera
which can detect fire using image processing. But in our
system, we use FPV camera which is cost effective and can
detect human faces by using image processing which can
bring in a revolutionary improvement if used by firefighting
groups.
Another relevant work was done by Altaf et al. [3]. They
made a fully automated a fire-fighting robot directed by a
maze of white fluorescent line on a blue arena. But this robot
can work only some specific places which are designed in
this way. If fire accidents occur in huge arenas which cannot
have such design, the robot will not be usable. We made our
robot so it can be used at any place and it does not need any
direction lines.
Naskar et al. [4] worked on a robot which installed a
remotely controlled camera to send back streaming video
with sound which could be seen on a screen in the base
station from where the robot was being controlled. In our
design, we use constant video and sound component utilizing
radio frequency, yet we do not need any base station. We
simply require a PC, so our designed firefighting robot is
more convenient and easy to deploy.
III. THEORY
A. Block diagram
The mounted camera gives an unmistakable perspective
of the spot of the fire. Using RF signals, the Arduino
1
microcontroller is flagged to move the robot in an
autonomous fashion. We can also activate the vacuum fan so
it can suck away smoke and start face identification
algorithm to identify human faces. Finally, we initiate the
throwing of water at the fire smother it.
Vacuum Fan
human faces and mark them as faces. Then we input around
1000 non-faces or non-countenances and mark them as non-
faces in the algorithm. Afterward, we input a picture as
information and the result advises if it is a human face or not.
Fig. 3 shows how an information picture is broken down to
distinguish whether it is a human face or not.

Water Pump

Controller Arduino Robot

Robot
Movement

Human Face
Detection

Fig. 1. Working principle of multi-purpose Firefighting robot

B. Design of Vacuum Fan

Our one of the most challenging part was the design of
the vacuum fan so that it can suck away smoke as quickly as
possible. As shown in Fig. 2, we designed a shell and inside
it, we installed a high RPM motor with fans which plays a
vital role in sucking away smoke. We designed our vacuum
fan following Bernoulli's equation [10]. When excessive
high-pressure air to the low-pressure site, there will be an air
flow from the high to low [9]. We can use equation (1) to
relate the pressure and velocity in front of the propeller disk
[11].

‫ݐ݌‬௢ ൌ ‫݌‬௢ ൅ ͲǤͷ‫ܸܣݎ‬௢మ 

Where, in front of the disk total pressure ‫ݐ݌‬௢ equals the

static pressure ‫݌‬௢ plus the dynamic pressure 0.ͷ‫ܸܣݎ‬௢మ

‫ݐ݌‬௘ ൌ ‫݌‬௢ ൅
Ǥͷ‫ܸܣݎ‬௘ మ 

Where, ‫ ݎ‬is the air density and ܸ௢ is the initial velocity

downstream of the disk.
Fig. 3. Viola-jones Algorithm Working Process

‫ ݌‬ൌ ‫ݐ݌‬௢ ൅ ‫ݐ݌‬௘  D. Arduino Uno

Where, at the disk of the pressure, ‫ݐ݌‬௘ is the total pressure To operate the Arduino microcontroller, we upload the
and ܸ௘ is the next velocity code. In designing the code, we divide the code into three
parts: (1) robot movement, (2) vacuum fan, and (3) water
Finally Bernoulli's equation into the thrust‫ܨ‬, we obtain pump.

‫ ܨ‬ൌ Ǥͷ‫ܸڿܣݎ‬௘ మ െܸ௢మ ‫ۀ‬

Fig. 2. Design of Vacuum fan Fig. 4. Arduino UNO

C. Face Detection and Activate Water Nozzle
Utilizing Viola-Jones algorithm [8], we distinguish
human faces. It is trained by using a few appearances and
non-faces and preparing a classifier that recognize faces.
Once the preparation is done, it is ready to distinguish any
face approaching picture. At first, we gather 700-1000
E. Motor Driver Module L298N
The H-bridge motor driver is another key equipment of
this project. This can operate at a high operating voltage,
which can be up to 36 volts. In this project, we use two
motor drivers, one has four pins among them two pins force
the robot go forward and the other two pins forces the robot

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go backward. In the second motor driver, two pins activate
the vacuum fan and the other two pins actives the water
pump. Rest of the pins of both the motors connect with the
Arduino which directs the robot for the intended operation.

Fig. 7. Vacuum Fan

Fig. 5. L298N Motor Driver
F. FPV Camera with Receiver and Transmitter and AT9
Controller
As described earlier, the FPV camera plays a key role in
the firefighting process. It includes a transmitter that
transmits the camera pictures which gives us the actual
perspective of the fire. The scope of this transmitter is around
600 meters at 5.8 GHz.
We additionally use an AT9 Radio Controller to control
the robot. Its highest range is 1.5 kilometer. This controller is
not difficult to program and simple to control. By this
controller, we control the robot's movement, the vacuum fan,
the water siphon and the revolution of the siphon spout and
camera.
B. Robot Wheels and Full Body Setup
The design used four 300 RPM motors for the robot
development. This motor current rate is 12 ampere with 12
dc voltage. The robot wheels are attached to the motors.
Since the camera is very important and crucial to the
operation of the system, the installation structure of the
camera should be stable and strategically positioned. To get
the ideal perspective of the fire, we set the camera at the rear
of the abdominal area of the robot. We attached a servo
motor with the camera so it can be turned as required. The
vacuum fan, water siphon, tank and the camera are all
installed on the robot with the goal that all of them can work
easily.

Fig. 6. Real picture of FPV Camera and AT9 Controller

This project also uses DC motors, motor fans, water Fig. 8. View of the Robot
pump, wheel, servo motor and FPV camera with transmitter.
V. SOFTWARE IMPLIMENTATION
IV. HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION A. Robot Movement
A. Vacuum Fan
+
Forward Right Motor Left Motor
One of the design goals was to remove the smoke as Forward Forward
quickly as possible. Hence, the vacuum fan should be
exceptionally dynamic for sucking the smoke constantly. To
make the circuit of the vacuum fan, we need three kinds of Backward
+
Right Motor Left Motor
equipment, (1) a fan, small 4 wings curved style. 2.5-inch Backward Backward
diameter, (2) a DC motor, and (3) a cylinder pipe, 6 inch
long which is about two-thirds of the robot. We need to make
this vacuum fan utilizing Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) in an
+
Right Motor Left Motor
Right Forward
ideal place with the goal that it cannot confront any Backward
inconvenience while working. At last, we associate this
vacuum fan with radio controller through wire and battery.
Left Right Motor
Backward + Left Motor
Forward

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B. Facee Detection
To detect if people are trapped in the area of fire hazard,
we use the Viola-Jones algorithm in MATLAB [12] to detect
a human faces, which takes comparatively short amount of
time to find out human presence.
The robot can be moved forward, backward, left or right.
A motor is used to operate the vacuum fan and a separate
motor controls the direction of throwing water by changing
the angle of the water nozzle.
VII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Improvement of Vacuum Fan
When there is a pressure differential without obstruction,
there will be a flow from high pressure area to low pressure
areas. Using a vacuum structure like the first figure in Fig.
11, we get very low air pressure in front of wings, and as a
result, the smoke gets out very slowly. For improvement, we
made a different lip of the tube which looks like a large
radius curved lip and that dramatically improved the amount
of suction. Thus the rate of smoke removal is increased.

Fig. 9. Human frontal face detection. [The subject in the picture is one of
the authors of this paper, Mr. Shuzan.]

VI. OPERATIION OF THE SYSTEM

Fig. 11. Improvised Vacuum Lip
The operation of the system is extremely straightforward
and intuitive, which is illustrated in Fig. 10. In our system, we observed that larger Disk Area Ratio
(DAR) [9] and INCREASED number of propellerS RESULT IN
more air flow. We VERIFIED THIS USING different typeS of
propeller fanS BUT with the same RPM motor. We have to
increase the propeller area such a way so that it cannot
increase the pitch area of the fan. And the result given below
in TABLE II. But for using more propellerS we need the more
powerful motor.

TABLE II: VACUUM FAN TEST RESULT

RPM No. of DAR Room Size Smoke sucking
Propeller Time
3000 2 0.25 6(Sq Feet) 8 min
3000 3 0.38 6(Sq Feet) 6 min

3000 3 0.56 6(Sq Feet) 5 min

3000 4 0.75 6(Sq Feet) 3 min

B. Minimum Threshold Value for Face Detection

For this analysis, we made smoke in a limited chamber.

At first, the robot was not able identify human face because
of overwhelming smoke, at that point we started the vacuum
fan. After a specific time, robot identified a human face and
right away initiated water spout. Table II shows the effect of
smoke on detecting faces by the adopted algorithm.

TABLE III: FACE DETECTION RANGE BASED ON SMOKE EXTRAKING [THE

SUBJECT IN THE PICTURE IS ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF THIS PAPER, MR.
UDAY]

Fig. 10. Operational flowchart.

Everything can be controlled using the radio controller.

Utilizing RF signals, we control two servo engines which are
attached to the Arduino microcontroller. When the camera
discovers the fire and possibly human faces, it passes the
information to the control point with the hope that the person Face Not Detected Face Detected Face Detected
in charge of the controller can move the robot and throw Matrix value Matrix value Matrix value
water at the fire. 0×4 empty 247 204 435 435 222 162 689 689

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C. Performance Parameters water from a distance. The robot can also go into narrow
areas where humans cannot enter. This device can save
After testing different components at various conditions, firefighters’ lives and makes their work easy and more
we found the values in Table IV. We test it in a wide range effective.
of spots. We sent it through a small deterrent and it was able
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