New design improves firefighting robots, increases maneuverability to fight fires better, save lives

Purdue University researchers developed a new design technology to improve firefighting robots and equip them with an automatic T-valve system. (Stock photo)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A new design in firefighting robots, already successfully tested in the field, could make firefighters’ jobs less dangerous and address one of the biggest challenges with firefighting robots – the ability to maneuver in a burning structure.

Firefighting robots equipped with a new automatic T-valve system can remove water from the fire hose whenever the robot moves to a new location. The technology takes significantly less energy for firefighters to pull an empty fire hose compared with a water-filled fire hose, which enables the firefighting robot to maneuver more quickly and efficiently in and around a burning structure. Purdue University researchers developed the technology.

“This discharge valve invention could be the next transformation of the fire service that saves lives,” said Eric Dietz, director of the Purdue Homeland Security Institute and a professor of computer and information technology in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute. “This invention further enables the firefighting robot by adding to the robot mobility and saving lives within the fire service and, most importantly, with the public. With this improvement, the firefighting robots are better able to save lives and protect property.”

Dietz said the Purdue invention improves the efficiency of a firefighting robot by reducing the weight and power consumption while improving the mobility of a robot to close the potential gap between the machine and a human fighter.

According to Dietz, with the addition of the Purdue T-valve design, the robot can be lighter, more mobile and have battery capacity for a longer mission, since its maneuver does not require pulling a fully charged fire hose. He said robots with the T-valve system might be used in conditions not stable or safe enough for a human firefighter entry.

Purdue researchers created a new design to improve firefighting robots and increase maneuverability to fight fires better and save lives. (Image provided) Download image

The Purdue team developed the T-valve system through work with firefighting robots and the Purdue University Fire Department.

Dietz previously served as the founding executive director of Indiana’s Department of Homeland Security.

“During my time in this position, we had a number of firefighter deaths in structure fires where the structures were not occupied,” Dietz said. “We also struggled to maintain youth volunteer firefighter numbers sufficient to protect the public. This enhancement to the firefighting robot concept can solve those issues while saving lives.”

The Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization has filed a patent on the technology. They are looking for partners for continued research and to take the technology to market.

The work aligns with Purdue's Giant Leaps celebration, celebrating the global advancements in artificial intelligence as part of Purdue’s 150th anniversary. Artificial intelligence, including the use of public safety robots, is one of the four themes of the yearlong celebration’s Ideas Festival, designed to showcase Purdue as an intellectual center solving real-world issues.

About Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization

The Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Innovation from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org. For more information on licensing a Purdue innovation, contact the Office of Technology Commercialization at otcip@prf.org. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University.         

Writer: Chris Adam, 765-588-3341, cladam@prf.org

Source: Eric Dietz, jedietz@purdue.edu