Communications of the ACM
Firefighting Robot Snake Flies on Jets of Water
Researchers in Japan have developed a fire-fighting robot that can wiggle its way into windows or other gaps in a building, carrying and directing water as it goes.
Credit: Tohoku University/National Institute of Technology
Researchers at Tohoku University and the National Institute of Technology at Hachinohe College in Japan have developed a snake-like robot with the body of a fire hose.
They say this new robotic system, called the Dragon Fighter, can wiggle its way into windows or other gaps in a building, carrying and directing water as it goes.
The robot fire hose powers itself by firing high-pressure jets of water downward, lifting itself off the ground. These jets, steerable nozzle modules distributed along the length of the hose, siphon water out of the high-pressure stream inside of the hose and spray it downwards.
Each module can direct itself independently, enabling the hose to weave itself through small gaps deep into a building in order to find the source of a fire.
From IEEE Spectrum
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