Summary Reader Responds Draft #3

Little's article "Firefighting Robots Go Autonomous" (2021) informs us that dangerous firefighting tasks are carried out by firefighting drones. These drones come in varying shapes and sizes, ranging from military tank-like wagons weighing two tons to lightweight drones that can fly. Every year, around three thousand Americans lose their lives in 350,000 households and wildfires, of which 80 are firefighters. With the introduction of firefighting drones that can enter burning buildings with temperature and smoke hazards deemed too dangerous, countless lives could have been saved. Little reported that these drones in operation are currently remote-controlled, while autonomous, self-driven intelligent drones are in development by researchers. The issue that is holding these drones from going fully into production is not a matter of technological advancement but a lack of investment funds due to the high cost that dissuades investors. A group of university students have worked to change this using commonly available materials to create a firefighting drone named R2-D2. The features that come with R2-D2 are a heat-sensing and distance navigational camera. The heat-sensing camera helps to locate the source of ignition. A signal is sent to the water nozzle to put out the flame. And as for the navigational camera, it helps the drone manoeuvre around obstacles and terrain. The firefighting department in America should work closely with researchers and university students to reduce drone costs by assembling them with cheap and available materials. If successful, it will lower the cost of firefighting drones in the current market, allowing more firefighting departments to deploy drones in firefighting, hence saving countless lives.

 

In order to withstand the intense heat of a burning building, modern firefighting drones are encased with aramid fibres. Aramid fibres are classified as extremely resilient to heat due to their aromatic atomic structure (polymer database). Apart from being heat resistant, aramid fibres are light in weight yet retain a strength four times that of steel, making them top-notch in strength-to-weight ratio and an ideal material for fireproofing firefighting drones (Matmatch). Due to the difficulty in manufacturing, coupled with high demand, aramid fibres are extremely expensive in nature. The high material cost of aramid fibres puts a heavy tow on the production cost of these firefighting drones. The American-made human-controlled robot Robotics Systems 3 (RS3), for example, costs upwards of USD$300,000. It is currently being used by the Los Angeles City Fire Department to assist firefighters in buildings with collapsing structures (Little, 2021, para.7). However, researchers from the Institute of Technology in Izmir, Turkey, have come up with an alternate design to fireproof the firefighting robots without the use of aramid fibres. For fireproofing to work, the temperature of the electronic components within the drone must be kept under 55 °C, whereas the outer temperature can reach up to 850 °C in a household fire (Faruk Keceki). Previously, this could be easily achieved with the use of an aramid fibre coat. But in order to reduce the cost, the body of the robot is replaced with aluminium, which consists of two shells attached to one another using rods. And to insulate the heat flow between the outer and inner shells, rock wool and ceramic paper is being used as insulators (Faruk Keceki). During the trial, the robot was put to test by having the surface of the robot heated to 850 °C, a simulation of the temperature inside a household fire. With the insulation in place, it took a total of 7.2 minutes for the initial inside temperature of 24 °C to reach the cut-off temperature of 55 °C.

 

Another way of fireproofing the firefighting drone could be achieved with the use of liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen could be integrated into the drone as part of the extinguishing system. With the use of a Lalman filter in the electronic system, it will monitor the sensor’s temperature data of both the environment and itself. When the filter detects that the temperature of the robot is too high, it will release liquid nitrogen to pass under the copper plates for self-cooling. Brittleness may occur as a result of the sudden release of liquid nitrogen as it has an extremely low temperature of -192 °C. The design team managed to solve the issues by creating a shaft to guide the flow of nitrogen toward the tracks (Faruk Keceki). The cooling system can be paired with the two shell insulators, arming the firefighting robot with both passive and active insulation against the high temperature inside of a burning building.

 

When manufacturers are given the ability to replace expensive insulating materials using innovative cooling systems and inexpensive materials, it could drastically reduce the production cost of firefighting drones, tackling the main challenge these machines face. The institutional reluctance to invest in devices tailored to meet these varying niche needs. "This is not a technological problem. It’s more of a socioeconomic problem, " says Neil Sahota, an inventor who advises the United Nations on artificial intelligence issues.

 

In conclusion, I felt that researchers such as the ones from the Institute of Technology in Izmir, Turkey, are not just tackling and solving the problem of reducing the production cost of the firefighting drone. They are also tackling the socioeconomic problems presented in our society. The state firefighting departments in America should also step up and put more monetary investment into research and drone development. The state firefighting department in America should follow the example set by the government of New South Wales. According to Minister for Emergency Services David Elliott and Fire & Rescue NSW (FRNSW) Commissioner Greg Mullins, the NSW government has invested AUD $310,000 in firefighting drone technology to ensure the safety of NSW residents and firefighters. When all is done correctly, we might get to witness more drones being deployed to fight fires, saving countless lives of firefighters and people.


Reference.


Aramid Fibers, Polymer Database
https://polymerdatabase.com/Fibers/Aramid.html#:~:text=Aramid%20fibers%20are%20rather%20expensive,temperature%20and%20no%20melting%20point.

Aramid Fibers, Matmatch
https://matmatch.com/learn/material/aramid-fibers

Little, J. B. (2021, October 29). Firefighting Robots Go Autonomous. Scientific American.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/firefighting-robots-go-autonomous/

Emin Faruk Kececi, Fireproofing The Firefighting Robot. Photonics Media
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Fireproofing_The_Firefighting_Robot/a37888#:~:text=A%20passively%20insulated%20robot%20with,to%20each%20other%20with%20rods.

Fire and Rescue NSW (2020, May 22). New Firefighting Robot can take the heat,
https://www.fire.nsw.gov.au/news.php?news=2312


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