U.S. Navy Works to Create Humanoid Firefighting Robot

[TopDollar]

 

Damage control is arguably the most important aspect of operating a multi-billion dollar warship. So much so that every sailor, regardless of rank, is taught how to fight fires. Even a small fire started in a trash can could quickly become unmanageable and cause millions of dollars worth of damage, or worse. Tragedies such as the 1967 USS Forrestal Fire (CV-59), and the 2012 USS Miami (SSN-755) fire serve as stern reminders to how important firefighting is onboard ships.

 

Fires onboard Navy ships are not as rare as you might think. Ships are essentially floating cities, sometimes housing more than 5,000 Sailors and Marines during a deployment. Accidental fires can occur for a variety of reasons such as negligent sailors smoking where they're not supposed to or just operational hazards such as equipment failures or jet fuel fires on the flight deck. The fact that you are out to sea without many options for escape make even the most trivial fires extremely dangerous. 

 

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The U.S. Navy is getting a helping hand from university researchers in its efforts to create a robot that can fight fires onboard its ships. The Navy is hoping to one day have robots, instead of sailors, take on the dangerous job of tackling onboard fires. To make that happen, it is turning to researchers and students. The U.S. military’s Office of Naval Research is giving a grant of $600,000 to a Worcester Polytechnic Institute professor to develop motion-planning algorithms for firefighting humanoid robots. Dmitry Berenson, an assistant professor of computer science and robotics engineering at WPI, will work on the software for the humanoid robot build by engineering students at Virginia Tech for the Navy. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon University also are involved in the project, dubbed SAFFiR, for Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot.

 

A remote operated firefighting robot would be a really cool tool to have. Its LIDAR and infrared camera systems would make operating equipment in thick smoke a non issue whereas humans would have to mainly operate on feel. It could also be deployed into very hazardous conditions without fear of loss of life. For example, deploying a robot into a space in which a halon or CO2 fire suppression system has been activated could be invaluable for damage control.

 

It's humanoid design is also a benefit as it reduces the amount of modification of existing fire fighting equipment required for the robot to operate it. The theory being, if a human can operate a fire hose nozzle or other damage control equipment, then so can this robot. Navy ships are also far from handicap accessible with their steep ladders and "knee knockers" which form watertight boundaries (see below picture). These obstacles would make a wheel or track based robot pretty useless except on large area decks such as hanger bays or flight decks.

 

A sailor polishes a "knee knocker" onboard a US Navy Ship

 

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The Office of Naval Research has been working on SAFFIR for the past six years. The robot, which is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weights about 140 pounds, also is designed to carry out other onboard tasks, such as basic maintenance work, to free up naval personnel for more complicated tasks. WPI, which nearly a year ago finished in the top third of competitors in DARPA’s global Robotics Challenge, is expected to work with the Navy to run tests on the robotic firefighter, according to the university. "By using autonomous humanoids, we’re hoping to reduce the need for Navy personnel who have to perform a whole host of tasks and to also help mitigate the risks to people in fire suppression scenarios," Berenson said in a statement.

 

The idea of the robot being able to complete basic maintenance work is an interesting idea. It could be used for inspections of confined spaces (such as inside tanks) which could be in a potentially harmful environment for humans. Other than that I'm having a little bit of trouble trying to think of tasks that would be acceptable for such as robot outside of damage control. Damage control would be the idea location as the robot could be sent into other high risk environments other than fires. It could help to mitigate such situations as steam leaks, flooding, toxic gas, etc. Sensors could also be used to perform air quality tests to ensure human entry is safe for example.

 

Some of the biggest hurdles I see for the project would be developing a robot which can successfully overcome shipboard obstacles such as operating hatches, vertical ladders, and maneuvering through scuttles (see below picture). In the end, I really don't see artificially intelligent robots ever replacing humans for maintenance requiring critical thinking or even dangerous tasks such as firefighting in my lifetime at least. Remote operated robots however could be a huge advantage.

 

 

A Sailor climbs through a watertight "scuttle" 

 

See the below sources for more information.

 

Sources:

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3031657/robotics/navy-calls-on-researchers-to-create-firefighting-humanoid-robot.html

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=85459

 

[rhyseyness]

Instead of spending money on preventing fires from occurring, they spend it on a robot to fight said fires.

Are fires really that common and really that un-preventable on a warship?

[TopDollar]

2 hours ago, rhyseyness said:

Instead of spending money on preventing fires from occurring, they spend it on a robot to fight said fires.

Are fires really that common and really that un-preventable on a warship?

In the military world, $600,000 is not a lot of money at all. But it is a decent chunk of change for a research project. Being a small city, the chance of fire is not much different than any small town or city. It just happens to be floating at sea. Then of course the inherent dangerous operations these ships perform increase that risk further. Fires aren't necessarily common, but they aren't rare either.

[rhyseyness]

2 hours ago, TopDollar said:

In the military world, $600,000 is not a lot of money at all. But it is a decent chunk of change for a research project. Being a small city, the chance of fire is not much different than any small town or city. It just happens to be floating at sea. Then of course the inherent dangerous operations these ships perform increase that risk further. Fires aren't necessarily common, but they aren't rare either.

Fair enough.

I work for for a defense company, so I understand $600k isn't a huge amount, but I also know our products don't often catch fire, lol.

Makes sense that on a ship it's more likely though, as it is, as you say, just like a small town in the middle of the sea.

[TopDollar]

8 hours ago, rhyseyness said:

Fair enough.

I work for for a defense company, so I understand $600k isn't a huge amount, but I also know our products don't often catch fire, lol.

Makes sense that on a ship it's more likely though, as it is, as you say, just like a small town in the middle of the sea.

Oh yeah I wouldn't say individual components such as electrical boxes generally have an inherent risk of catching on fire. Steam driven ships that have boilers could potentially be a fire hazard if a fuel oil valve leaked and ignited for example. 

 

A cool application of this robot would be if there was a fire and a halon suppression system activated. It could be sent in to ensure the fire has been extinguished and that oxygen levels have returned to a safe level for human entry.

[rhyseyness]

9 hours ago, TopDollar said:

A cool application of this robot would be if there was a fire and a halon suppression system activated. It could be sent in to ensure the fire has been extinguished and that oxygen levels have returned to a safe level for human entry.

I like that idea a lot!

You need to patent that shit, lol.