Agility, speed, strength, and balance are all qualities needed to fight fires, especially when those fires are shipboard. Such feats are difficult for humans, let alone humanoid robots. But that's just what the RoMeLa labs at Virginia Tech are working on.
"The SAFFiR [Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot] will be able to carry and operate fire extinguishers, fire hoses, throw PEAT [propelled extinguishing agent technology] canisters, as well as interact with humans and find fires. We've already built the legs of the robot and are working on the rest of it," said Derek Lahr, a PhD candidate and project manager.
The SAFFiR's legs are a highly compact amalgamation of motors, pulleys, wire harnesses, and controllers that allow the robot not only to walk, but also to walk while on a ship as it pitches and rolls through waves. Key concerns while designing the SAFFiR included the need to control the robot's locomotion from both a purely mechanical stance and a balance standpoint. For example, if the ship pitches forward, the robot might need to speed its leg movement and produce a longer stride length to keep itself from getting off balance.
Tethered to a power system, the SAFFiR walks while packing more than 12 maxon motors and 10 EPOS controllers. (Source: maxon)
Lahr said that by using maxon precision motors' EPOS controls, the project engineers were able to interconnect all operations easily. "For six degrees of freedom in each leg, we use six motors. That's 12 motors being used in just the legs section of the SAFFiR." Both speed and torque were necessary, since at different parts of a stride, the leg will alternately move fast and free and then slow and more controlled.
Lahr and his team used multiple 30mm maxon motors for the legs. Wherever possible, they designed in 100W motors to help reduce the weight of the unit. The motors provide the largest amount of mass in the robot, so any reduction in weight was a plus. "Maxon motors actually provide the highest power to weight ratio we could find in a brushless motor anywhere," Lahr said. "And humanoid robots can be more sensitive to weight than an airplane."
For certain critical joints like those in the knees, 200W motors were used. The knees of the robot, just like human knees, take the brunt of the load, especially when squatting or kneeling. They also have to move the fastest while walking. Those joints needed the additional torque and speed combination available with the larger wattage units.
I don't think you are being a wet rag at all. Perhaps there will be straight-forward events that a firefighting robot can mitigate, but fire (as you well know and have experienced) is a dynamic issue. Humans will always have some input into the the decision making and actions taken. Reminds me a lot of Scott Carpenter's Aurora 7 mission where a pitch horizon malfunction left the astronaut to manually correct because ground didn't realize what the problem was. There's a reason for the "man in the can"!
For some aspects of fighting fires on ships, the robot is great. One of the first things that happens in a confined space fire is to turn off the air going in and (turn on exhaust) vent the smoke (going out). This reduction in atmosphere slows the fire, but reduces the O2 / atmosphere: robots can do better than sailors when there is low O2 or toxic smoke: OBA's (like SCBA's) are short term and restrictive. The issues mentioned of floors / decks that are not flat pose obstacles for getting around: knee knockers (and I, and most sailors, have the scars that go with them). Lastly, the combination of ship's motion (pitch, roll, heave, etc.) and handling 1-1/2 or 2-1/2 inch hoses normally used to fight fires usually wear out teams of 3-5 or more sailors in a matter of minutes (require practiced rotation of nozzle-man, to avoid exhaustion) on each hose indicates the energy being dealt with by hose teams (think 150+ psi in fire mains on a ship).
Things are a little different when you can use light water or PKP (chemical agent), in that the volumes / weights and push-back from the hose is reduced: all that is good, or better, anyway. Halon is used in some cases, but is not a perfect solution, either: last guy out of the space fires that system and shuts the hatch. Some Halons are toxic. (It's been a while since my last USN cruise, so some things have probably changed, but ships' motion and the reality of a high pressure hose require balance and strength.)
Robot is a great idea, but I think it will take some work to in confined spaces. Smoke cuts visibility really fast; IR can help in this, otherwise you are working in the hot, in the dark, and in the (often toxic) smoke really fast.
The balance is delicate and hard to deal with as the decks get wet and slippery.) I'm all for the robot, but it's going to be a challenge to pull off. Save one ship, one burned or dead sailor, though, and it would all be worth while. Good luck.
Notarboca, yes some sort of human interactions are required. Robots are programmable devices and it can only perform according to the keying or in built instructions. I mean logical thinking is very less, so under certain conditions, we have to control it from external.
Of course depending upon the cost per robot, you could 'station' one at each of its usable areas thus avoiding the various ladders and obstacles that would preclude it from access.
I think this is a fascinating use of robotic systems. Well done Debora.I do have one or two questions, as follows:
Are temperature sensors embedded into the superstructure that tell the operator (controller) when to pull the robot back?When to retreat?From the JPEG, it appears the wiring harnesses are exposed and certainly could be affected by heat.I am sure other parts of the system have thermal limits of acceptability that must be addressed also.
I may have missed it but, are there light systems on the robot structure that can "cut through the smoke" to illuminate a path?
Are magnetic "shoes" used to steady performance when the robot "walks"?Of course those would be useless without a metal deck or flooring but could come in very handy on-board a Navy vessel.
I am assuming the system cannot climb stairs?Is that correct?
This is obviously a work in progress but definitely fascinating.The article is well done.
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