Simpozionul ştiinţific studenţesc

EMING ediţia a III-a

Reşiţa 03 - 05 decembrie 2015
P-ţa Traian Vuia, nr. 1-4, 320085-Reşiţa, www.uem.ro

The’’FireBot’’

Authors: std.sg. Pohonţu Alexandru, std.sg. Mateiaşi Adrian,

an III NHEN, Facultatea de Inginerie Marină,
Academia Navală “Mircea cel Bătrân” Constanţa

Coordinator: Cdor.prof.univ.dr. Samoilescu Gheorghe

Keywords: robot, fire, alarm;

Abstract: For this project we have assembled a car which can be used to prevent fire
aboard ships. The robot is controlled by a desktop application and it uses a mobile
video camera that transmits data to a computer via Wifi connection. Another use of it
could be the espyonage or search and rescue operation.
 Simpozionul ştiinţific studenţesc
EMING ediţia a III-a
Reşiţa 03 - 05 decembrie 2015
P-ţa Traian Vuia, nr. 1-4, 320085-Reşiţa, www.uem.ro

GENERAL CONCEPTS ABOUT ROBOTS

A robot is a machine designed to execute one or more tasks repeatedly, with speed and precision. There
are as many different types of robots as there are tasks for them to perform. A robot can be controlled by a
human operator, sometimes from a great distance. But most robots are controlled by computer, and fall into
either of two categories: autonomous robots and insect robots. An autonomous robot acts as a stand-alone
system, complete with its own computer (called the controller). Insect robots work in fleets ranging in number
from a few to thousands, with all fleet members under the supervision of a single controller. The term insect
arises from the similarity of the system to a colony of insects, where the individuals are simple but the fleet as a
whole can be sophisticated.

First-generation robots date from the 1970’s and consist of stationary, nonprogrammable,
electromechanical devices without sensors. Second-generation robots were developed in the 1980s and can
contain sensors and programmable controllers. Third-generation robots were developed between approximately
1990 and the present. These machines can be stationary or mobile, autonomous or insect type, with
sophisticated programming, speech recognition and/or synthesis, and other advanced features. Fourth-
generation robots are in the research-and-development phase, and include features such asartificial
intelligence, self-replication, self assembly, and nanoscale size (physical dimensions on the order of
nanometers, or units of 10-9 meter).

A robot is a mechanical or virtual artificial agent, usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by a
computer program or electronic circuitry. Robots can be autonomous or semi-autonomous and range from
humanoids such as Honda's Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility (ASIMO) and TOSY's TOSY Ping Pong
Playing Robot (TOPIO) to industrial robots, collectively programmed swarm robots, and even microscopic
nano robots. By mimicking a lifelike appearance or automating movements, a robot may convey a sense of
intelligence or thought of its own.
The branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots, as
well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing is robotics. These
technologies deal with automated machines that can take the place of humans in dangerous environments or
manufacturing processes, or resemble humans in appearance, behavior, and/or cognition. Many of today's
robots are inspired by nature contributing to the field of bio-inspired robotics. These robots have also created a
newer branch of robotics: Soft robotics.
From the time of ancient civilization there have been many accounts of user-configurable automated
devices and even automata resembling animals and humans, designed primarily as entertainment. As
mechanical techniques developed through the Industrial age, there appeared more practical applications such as
automated machines, remote-control and wireless remote-control.
The word 'robot' was first used to denote fictional humanoid in a 1921 play R.U.R. by the Czech writer,
Karel Čapek. Electronics evolved into the driving force of development with the advent of the first electronic
autonomous robots created by William Grey Walter in Bristol, England in 1948. The first digital and
programmable robot was invented by George Devol in 1954 and was named the Unimate. It was sold to
 Simpozionul ştiinţific studenţesc
EMING ediţia a III-a
Reşiţa 03 - 05 decembrie 2015
P-ţa Traian Vuia, nr. 1-4, 320085-Reşiţa, www.uem.ro

General Motors in 1961 where it was used to lift pieces of hot metal from die casting machines at the Inland
Fisher Guide Plant in the West Trenton section of Ewing Township, New Jersey.
Robots have replaced humans in the assistance of performing those repetitive and dangerous tasks which
humans prefer not to do, or are unable to do due to size limitations, or even those such as in outer space or at
the bottom of the sea where humans could not survive the extreme environments.
There are concerns about the increasing use of robots and their role in society. Robots are blamed for rising
unemployment as they replace workers in increasing numbers of functions.The use of robots in military combat
raises ethical concerns. The possibilities of robot autonomy and potential repercussions have been addressed in
fiction and may be a realistic concern in the future.
The word robot can refer to both physical robots and virtual software agents, but the latter are usually
referred to as bots. There is no consensus on which machines qualify as robots but there is general agreement
among experts, and the public, that robots tend to do some or all of the following: move around, operate a
mechanical limb, sense and manipulate their environment, and exhibit intelligent behavior — especially
behavior which mimics humans or other animals. In practical terms, "robot" usually refers to a machine which
can be electronically programmed to carry out a variety of physical tasks or actions.
There is no one definition of robot that satisfies everyone and many people have their own. For example
Joseph Engelberger, a pioneer in industrial robotics, once remarked: "I can't define a robot, but I know one
when I see one." The two ways that robots differ from actual beings are, simply stated, in the domain of
cognition, and in the domain of biological form. The general consensus is that a "robot" is a machine and not a
being simply because it is not intelligent (it requires programming to function), regardless of how human-like it
may appear. In contrast, an imaginary "machine" or "artificial life form" (as in science fiction) that could think
near or above human intelligence, and had a sensory body, would no longer be a "robot" but would be some
kind of "artificial being" or "cognitive robot", (see also cyborg).
The beginning of automata is associated with the invention of early Su Song's astronomical clock tower
featured mechanical figurines that chimed the hours. His mechanism had a programmable drum machine with
pegs (cams) that bumped into little levers that operated percussion instruments. The drummer could be made to
play different rhythms and different drum patterns by moving the pegs to different locations.
In Renaissance Italy, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) sketched plans for a humanoid robot around 1495.
Da Vinci's notebooks, rediscovered in the 1950s, contained detailed drawings of a mechanical knight now
known as Leonardo's robot, able to sit up, wave its arms and move its head and jaw. The design was probably
based on anatomical research recorded in his Vitruvian Man. It is not known whether he attempted to build it.
Remotely operated vehicles were demonstrated in the late 19th Century in the form of several types of
remotely controlled torpedos. The early 1870s saw remotely controlled torpedos by John Ericsson (pneumatic),
John Louis Lay (electric wire guided), and Victor von Scheliha (electric wire guided).
The Brennan torpedo, invented by Louis Brennan in 1877 was powered by two contra-rotating propellors
that were spun by rapidly pulling out wires from drums wound inside the torpedo. Differential speed on the
wires connected to the shore station allowed the torpedo to be guided to its target, making it "the world's first
practical guided missile". In 1897 the British inventor Ernest Wilson was granted a patent for a torpedo
remotely controlled by "Hertzian" (radio) waves and in 1898 Nikola Tesla publicly demonstrated a wireless-
controlled torpedo that he hoped to sell to the US Navy.
Archibald Low, known as the "father of radio guidance systems" for his pioneering work on guided rockets
and planes during the First World War. In 1917, he demonstrated a remote controlled aircraft to the Royal
Flying Corps and in the same year built the first wire-guided rocket.
In 1928, one of the first humanoid robots was exhibited at the annual exhibition of the Model Engineers
Society in London. Invented by W. H. Richards, the robot Eric's frame consisted of an aluminium body of
 Simpozionul ştiinţific studenţesc
EMING ediţia a III-a
Reşiţa 03 - 05 decembrie 2015
P-ţa Traian Vuia, nr. 1-4, 320085-Reşiţa, www.uem.ro

armour with eleven electromagnets and one motor powered by a twelve-volt power source. The robot could
move its hands and head and could be controlled through remote control or voice control.
Westinghouse Electric Corporation built Televox in 1926; it was a cardboard cutout connected to various
devices which users could turn on and off. In 1939, the humanoid robot known as Elektro was debuted at the
1939 New York World's Fair. Seven feet tall (2.1 m) and weighing 265 pounds (120.2 kg), it could walk by
voice command, speak about 700 words (using a 78-rpm record player), smoke cigarettes, blow up balloons,
and move its head and arms. The body consisted of a steel gear, cam and motor skeleton covered by an
aluminum skin. In 1928, Japan's first robot, Gakutensoku, was designed and constructed by biologist Makoto
Nishimura.
The first electronic autonomous robots with complex behaviour were created by William Grey Walter of
the Burden Neurological Institute at Bristol, England in 1948 and 1949. He wanted to prove that rich
connections between a small number of brain cells could give rise to very complex behaviors - essentially that
the secret of how the brain worked lay in how it was wired up. His first robots, named Elmer and Elsie, were
constructed between 1948 and 1949 and were often described as tortoises due to their shape and slow rate of
movement. The three-wheeled tortoise robots were capable of phototaxis, by which they could find their way
to a recharging station when they ran low on battery power.
Walter stressed the importance of using purely analogue electronics to simulate brain processes at a time
when his contemporaries such as Alan Turing and John von Neumann were all turning towards a view of
mental processes in terms of digital computation. His work inspired subsequent generations of robotics
researchers such as Rodney Brooks, Hans Moravec and Mark Tilden. Modern incarnations of Walter's turtles
may be found in the form of BEAM robotics.
The first digitally operated and programmable robot was invented by George Devol in 1954 and was
ultimately called the Unimate. This ultimately laid the foundations of the modern robotics industry.Devol sold
the first Unimate to General Motors in 1960, and it was installed in 1961 in a plant in Trenton, New Jersey to
lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Devol’s patent for the first digitally
operated programmable robotic arm represents the foundation of the modern robotics industry.
The first palletizing robot was introduced in 1963 by the Fuji Yusoki Kogyo Company. In 1973, a robot
with six electromechanically driven axes was patented by KUKA robotics in Germany, and the programmable
universal manipulation arm was invented by Victor Scheinman in 1976, and the design was sold to Unimation.
 Simpozionul ştiinţific studenţesc
EMING ediţia a III-a
Reşiţa 03 - 05 decembrie 2015
P-ţa Traian Vuia, nr. 1-4, 320085-Reşiţa, www.uem.ro

ARDUINO MEGA 2560

The Arduino Mega 2560 is a microcontroller board

based on the ATmega2560 . It has 54 digital input/output
pins (of which 15 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog
inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), a 16 MHz crystal
oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header,
and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support
the micro controller; simply connect it to a computer with a
USB cable or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or
battery to get started.
The ATmega2560 has 256 KB of flash memory for storing code (of which 8 KB is used for the
bootloader), 8 KB of SRAM and 4 KB of EEPROM (which can be read and written with the EEPROM
library).
The ATmega2560 on the Arduino Mega comes preburned with a bootloader that allows you to upload new
code to it without the use of an external hardware programmer. It communicates using the
original STK500 protocol (reference, C header files).

MOTOR DRIVERS

Arduino is able to pull the ports of very low power, total failure to spin
a motor. If we connect an electric motor directly to an Arduino port at
likely we will get burnt Processor Arduino board.
As this does not happen, we need a power amplifier that takes power
from the power source (battery, for example), and transmit them as engines
Arduino command. This amplifier is called generic "engine driver".
There are many engine drivers, the major difference between them is
how much power can lead (how powerful engines that can not control). Driver used for this project is a mid-
level driver in terms of power
headed. It can control motors that require no more than 2 amps.

ADJUSTABLE INFRARED SENZOR

This is an Infrared Transmitter and receiver which together make up a

photoelectric sensor. The sensor has a long detection distance, and has less
interference by visible light because it uses modulated Infrared light. This sensor
has a screwdriver adjustment to set the detected distance, then gives a digital
output when it senses something within that range. This sensor does not return a
distance VALUE.
 Simpozionul ştiinţific studenţesc
EMING ediţia a III-a
Reşiţa 03 - 05 decembrie 2015
P-ţa Traian Vuia, nr. 1-4, 320085-Reşiţa, www.uem.ro

SMOKE AND FLAMMABLE GASES SENZOR

Sensitive material of MQ-2 gas sensor is SnO2, which with lower

conductivity in clean air. When the target combustible gas exist, The
sensor’s conductivity is more higher along with the gas concentration
rising. Please use simple electrocircuit, Convert change of conductivity to
correspond output signal of gas concentration. MQ-2 gas sensor has high
sensitity to LPG, Propane and Hydrogen, also could be used to Methane
and other combustible steam, it is with low cost and suitable for different
application.

The ’’FireBot’’

It is an automated system that can be used in different circumstances and

situations. From the name, it shows that this robotcan be used to prevent fire
aboard warships using smoke and flammable gases sensors.
Given the need to avoid obstacles, the robot is also equipped with ultrasonic
distance sensors disposed at 90 degrees from each other in order to get datas
from the four directions of travel.
The moving of the robot is assured by four wheels driven by electric motors, one
for each wheel and this provides an electric car back to 360 degrees without the need to
change positions.
It is controlled by an infrared remote control and sends images to a computer by using a smarthphone via
Wifi connection.
’’FireBot’’ can be used in autopilot mode in which manages to cover the patrol area of a room without
collide with any obstacles appeared in its path.
When gas leakage are detected, the robot triggers acoustic signals by using a normal speaker.
The "brain" of this automatic system consists of an ’’Arduino MEGA 2560’’ development board type and
two motor drivers.

Bibliography:
http://whatis.techtarget.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot
http://www.robofun.ro/