Designing and Control Track-Belt Robot for Firefighting Task

Fire accidents are one of the leading hazards endangering human life, the economy, and the environment. Fires outbreak will lead the firefighters on duty facing with dangers. Research and development of firefighting robots to replace firefighters becomes an urgent requirement. Track-belt crawler robots are the most appropriate choice due to their ability to work on uneven terrains and surfaces like slopes and steeps or stairs. Track-belt robots can cope with obstructions that may appear suddenly in the working space. Be equipped track-belt, they have more contact with ground and inhibit high frictional forces to climb and move around uneven terrains with high efficiency. In this study, we designed, fabricated and control a track-belt crawler robot that can climb up/down on stairs of high-rise building, detect and extinguish fires. Experimental results showed that the robot works stably and effectively.