Flying dragon robot sprays water to put out fires

Japan's Dragon Firefighter Robot, designed like a flying dragon, is equipped with 8 water jets, integrated with a traditional camera and a thermal camera for effective firefighting.

A prototype of a flying dragon robot extinguishes a fire during a test session. Photo: Akita Prefectual University

Japanese researchers have developed a Dragon Firefighter, a robot designed to look like a flying dragon that can help firefighters tackle fires that are dangerous for firefighters, Interesting Engineering reported on December 22. The new research was published in the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI. The robot's blueprints are public, so robot makers around the world can freely use them to build firefighting dragon robots for the common good.

Based on the force generated by the eight water jets at the head and middle of the body, the Dragon Firefighter's fire hose can be pushed up to 2 meters high. The nozzle is very flexible, adaptable and aligned with the direction of the fire. The nozzle is guided by a controller on a trolley at the back. This trolley is connected to the fire truck with a 14,000-liter water tank via a water supply pipe.

The nozzles operate at a rate of 6.6 liters per second, with a maximum pressure of 1 megapascal. The nozzle head integrates a traditional camera and a thermal camera, helping to identify and locate fires. This combination of technology enhances the Dragon Firefighter's firefighting capabilities.

Researchers began developing the flying dragon robot in 2016. They worked with Japanese fire experts to better understand the special requirements.

"Here we present a prototype 4-meter-long remote-controlled flying fire hose robot, designed to extinguish fires in buildings safely and effectively, by directly approaching the fire source," said Dr. Yuichi Ambe, study co-author and associate professor at Osaka University.

The Dragon Firefighter prototype was tested at the World Robot Summit in Fukushima in September 2021 and successfully extinguished a fire from a distance of 4 meters. Since then, the research team has made many improvements to the robot and is still continuing to perfect it.

Scientists estimate that it will take about 10 years before the flying dragon robot is used in actual firefighting. The biggest challenge is to extend the robot's operating range to more than 10 meters. Solving this challenge and developing firefighting strategies that suit the Dragon Firefighter's unique capabilities will be key points in the robot's development.

Thu Thao (According to Interesting Engineering )

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