© JAN 2024 | IRE Journals | Volume 7 Issue 7 | ISSN: 2456-8880

Robotic Fire Fighting Vehicle with GSM SMS And

Call Alert
JONAH A. WABBA1, FELIX I. EGBUJO2
1, 2
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, University of Jos

Abstract- The increased number of fire accidents Technology is rapidly growing and affecting almost
recorded worldwide has led to an increased every aspect of our lives. In situations of fire
demand for systems and methods to help reduce incidents, we need a technology that will help us
this increase and ensure that lives and properties detect this fire at its early stage, extinguish this fire
are protected from the dangers of fire incidents. An without human interference, and also send an SMS
essential consideration in this regard is the ability and call alert to the property owners notifying them
to detect and extinguish fire incidents at early of any fire incident to reduce the number of
stages to prevent further damages and reduce casualties and lives lost during fire accidents. This is
fatalities; this has led to the increased use of the motivation for this project.
technology in firefighting incidents for fire
detection, fire alarms, and fire extinguishers. This A. Problem Statement
project is aimed at the design and implementation The level of damage caused by fire accidents in
of a robotic fire fighting vehicle that will homes, offices, laboratories, factories, etc., demands
automatically detect the presence of fire at a that more ways of securing these facilities from fire
distance of at most 63cm in front of it and 50 cm incidents and outbreaks be developed. Placing
behind it, automatically navigate to where the fire humans in charge of detecting and monitoring
is, and extinguish the fire using a water pump buildings for fire incidents is not reliable enough.
system without human interference and while These humans may be unable to detect small levels
extinguishing the fire, it will send an SMS within of fire in specific locations at all times, especially at
10 seconds of activating the pump and a call alert night when they are sleeping or when office
within 20 seconds of starting the pump to the owner buildings are closed for the day. Research carried
of the property where it is deployed. out on fire outbreaks in Nigeria: a case study of
Lagos state shows minimal fire management
Indexed Terms: Fire-Fighting, Robotics, IoT, capacity in many public buildings. Most buildings
GSM that experience fire outbreaks do not have
smoke/fire detectors or mechanisms to detect fire at
I. INTRODUCTION its early stage [2]. Detecting any fire incident at its
early stage is vital in fighting and reducing the
Technology today is fast evolving and has led to the damages caused by fire outbreaks; not only is early
automation of many processes and tasks to make life detection vital, but being able to put out a fire at this
easier and safer for humans. In today's world, stage is key to reducing or eliminating the potential
machines, otherwise known as robots, are being damages. This project is being built with these two
used to perform specific tasks that may be dangerous vital points in mind to provide a solution to the
or difficult for humans to carry out efficiently [1]. increasing number of fire disasters and damages
As the days go by, there is an increase in the number caused by late detection and extinguishment of fire
of tasks being performed by robots, making robotics at its early stage.
one of the fastest-growing aspects of technology
today. The rate at which the number of fire accidents B. Aim of the Project
in residential buildings, offices, laboratories, and This project is aimed at the design and
workshops is increasing is alarming. This is largely implementation of a robotic fire-fighting vehicle that
due to the increased number of electrical gadgets has an embedded GSM SMS and call alert system
whose failures can trigger a fire outbreak, flammable with the following objectives;
solids and liquids in laboratories, workshops, and
even residential buildings, electrical hazards, etc.

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1) To program an Arduino to enable communication detecting fire, the robot moves to the fire and
between sensor modules and interconnected digital attempts to extinguish it using a 5V pump placed in
components. a container with water on the top of the vehicle. In
2) To design and construct a robotic vehicle with this project, only one flame sensor module and one
flame detection abilities to detect fire within its gas sensor module were placed on the robot, limiting
vicinity and navigate automatically to where the the robot's ability to detect fire from multiple
flame is to extinguish the fire. directions.
3) To implement a GSM SMS and Call alert system
to notify home and office owners of fire detected by In another similar work, Ihsan A. Taha, and Hamzah
the robotic fire fighting vehicle. M. Marhoon designed and implemented a controlled
robot for fire detection and extinguishing in closed
C. Scope of the Project areas using an Arduino [4]. In this project, a four-
This project is confined to the following scopes; wheel car as a remote-controlled robot was
1) The robotic vehicle will be able to detect fire developed. The robot first establishes a wireless
within a distance of 0-50cm in front and behind it. connection through Bluetooth with an Android
2) The robotic vehicle will be able to automatically application that can be used to send motion
navigate to the detected fire, stop at a distance of commands to the robot. The robot has a camera
about 5cm from the fire, and attempt to extinguish placed on it to enable the user to monitor the robot’s
the fire using a built-in water pump system. In cases surroundings for fire, after which the user sends
where the vehicle is too close to the fire, the robotic commands using the Android application for the
vehicle should be able to move back, creating a robot to move and extinguish the fire. The water
distance of about 5cm between itself and the fire. pump does not work automatically; it has to be
3) Upon reaching where the fire is, the robotic commanded to do so by sending commands from the
vehicle should be able to send an SMS and call alert Android application to the robot. This project uses
within 10 seconds and 20 seconds, respectively, only one flame sensor and camera, meaning the user
after the fire extinguishing mechanism has been can only monitor fire directly in front of the robot
activated. and not in other directions. The robot still requires
human intervention in monitoring and extinguishing
II. LITERATURE REVIEW fire, which means it cannot detect and extinguish the
fire on its own except it is told to do so using
Over the past years’ robots have been designed and commands from an Android application.
constructed with the ability to extinguish fire; some
of the robots are fully autonomous and can detect In another similar work, a fire-fighting robot using
and extinguish a fire on their own without any master-slave architecture was developed by
human interference in the process, while some of the Reeshma shaundra G, Belfin R.V, and Immanuel
robots developed for firefighting are not fully Alex Pandian S [5]. When fire is detected, the robot
autonomous as they still require the presence of starts to move towards the fire, and its movement
humans to control the robots either using a remote changes according to the direction of the fire as
control or their mobile phones, despite these measured by IR sensors embedded on it. In this
advancements and the involvement of robotics in master-slave approach, a master robot is
firefighting, in underdeveloped regions that are accompanied by a group of slave robots to make the
prone to fire accidents, the use of robotics for process easier and faster. The master and slave
firefighting can be said to be almost non-existent this robots are connected using the concept of swarm
is largely due to how expensive it is to build most of robotics, and they both coordinate to put off the fire.
these robots and the lack of adequate technological In this model, a fan was integrated to extinguish the
resources to carry out research or develop fire; this is an unreliable method of extinguishing
indigenous models of robots for firefighting. fire and could even increase the level of the fire as
the fan can supply more oxygen to the fire, even
In a similar work, Jayarman. G, Dr. N. though the slave-master approach could resolve the
Muthukumaran, Vanaja.A, and Santhamariammal.R fire outbreaks in a shorter time, it will require more
developed a firefighting robot [3]. The robot uses a than one robot to be used at a time which will mean
fire sensor module (flame sensor) to detect fire; after more cost. In this model, no IR sensor was placed

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behind the robot, which means that the robot cannot operation of the robot, and without this, the remote-
detect fire behind it. control part of the robot cannot work, which means
In another similar work, N. N. Mahzan, N. I. M this robot cannot be deployed in places without
Enzai, N. M. Zin, and K. M. Noh designed an internet access.
Arduino-based home fire alarm system with a GSM
module [6]. This robot uses an LM35 temperature In another similar work, J Jalani, D Misman, A S
sensor to detect the heat from fire, and an alert Sadun, and L C Hong, developed an automatic fire-
message will be sent to the user via a short message fighting robot with notification [8]. This fire-
service (SMS) through a GSM module. When the fighting robot was designed to search for fire in a
system detects a temperature of 40°C or more, it will small floor plan of a house, extinguish the fire, and
immediately display an alert notification on an return to the front of the house at last. When
embedded LCD and simultaneously send an SMS switched on, the robot will operate in auto mode; it
alert to the users. This project only serves as a fire will move randomly in the house, office, or any
alert system and does not have any provision in place place it is deployed. During the auto mode, if no fire
for fire extinguishing; the system uses the is detected, it will keep moving and scanning;
temperature of its surroundings as a basis for meanwhile, if a fire is detected, it will move toward
sending an SMS alert to the users. In cases where the the fire source and activate the water pump to pump
temperature of the surroundings gets to 40°C water to extinguish the fire. If the temperature of the
without the presence of fire, the system will send a fire site is above 40°C, the alarm will start ringing so
false alert to the users despite no fire being detected that the operator can control the firefighting robot to
in the building. go back and avoid damaging the vehicle. In this
model, the robot constantly turns and scans for fire;
In another similar project, a multi-sensor-based fire- this process consumes a lot of power and can lead to
fighting robot with wireless control and a visual a quick discharge of the battery power even before
system was developed by Md. Mahmudul Hasan fire is detected. There was no provision for a sensor
and, Nayeem Al-Tamzid Bhuiyan [7]. This project behind the vehicle to improve its sensitivity in
has two parts; the autonomous part and the remote- different directions, and the robot does not
control part. The autonomous part is based on an extinguish fire at 40°C as it withdraws from the fire
Arduino mega, 4 Flame sensors, 2 Ultrasonic and rings an alarm so the user can come to
sensors, Fire extinguishers, 4 Motor and wheels, and extinguish the fire themselves. Most fires occur at
2 Motor drivers. The flame sensors used were placed over 40°C, making this model ineffective in
on the robot's left, right, and middle positions so that extinguishing fire for most occasions serving only as
if the fire occurs on any of these sides, it will go a fire alarm.
closer to the fire by moving left, right, or forward.
The remote-control part of this project is based on a In another similar work, an Arduino-based fire
NodeMCU, motor and wheels, a remote-control fighter robot was developed by Sushrut Khajuria,
application (Blynk), and an IP camera. The Rakesh Johar, Varenyam Sharma, and Abhideep
NodeMCU controls the robot's wheels using the Bhatti [9]. The project consists of a user-controllable
Blynk application on a mobile phone controlled by firefighter robot with a water tank and a gun for
the user. If a command is sent from the Blynk extinguishing fire. An RF remote was attached to the
application, it will store the data on a server, and the robot for remote operation and an RF receiver-based
server sends the data to the NodeMCU through wifi, microcontroller circuit to operate the robotic vehicle
then the NodeMCU commands the motor driver to and water pump. This robot also has a wireless
move according to the given data. The autonomous camera mounted over it; this camera helps the user
mode of the robot can also be controlled (Switched control the robot to move in different directions as
on or off) using the blynk application. The IP camera required. The main limitation of this model is that it
on the robot was placed to allow users to view its does not work autonomously and still requires
surroundings as it operates so the user can know how human intervention and cannot operate in the
to control the robot. In this model, no provision was absence of the user.
made for detecting fire behind the vehicle. Since the
blynk application communicates to the robot using In another similar project, Komal N. Ambadkar,
servers, internet connectivity is required for the Vaishnavee A. Gorte, Shravasti M. Rekhate, Renuka

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D. Nichit, Pratik A. Gaupal, and P. K .Khedkar

designed a fire-fighting robot using Arduino [10].
The heart of the robot is a programmable Arduino
UNO, which is connected to the fire-sensing unit.
The fire sensing unit consists of a temperature
sensor, smoke sensor, and gas sensor. The robot also
has a wireless camera that will transfer the front
view of the robot to a receiving unit, which is
controlled by the user. The receiving unit consists of
an XBEE Arduino computer and a camera receiving
unit. By operating the GUI and looking at the front
view of the camera the operator of the robot can
Figure 3.1: Gantt chart
operate the robot. On detection of the direction of
the fire, the motors are used to move near the fire by
A. Design Process
driving the motors through the L298 driver module.
The design process of this project involves
When it is near the fire it stops and the fire is put out
analyzing already existing works that are similar to
using a 5v water pump using commands from the
the intended design, and then carrying out research
operator. This model cannot detect fire behind the
on the needed components for the execution of the
vehicle, and cannot be used to monitor fire behind
project, the design of the project was then created
the vehicle. The vehicle still depends on human
using Fritzing software which shows the
operation through a mobile phone or computer and
interconnections between all the various
cannot operate autonomously to extinguish fire.
components of the project. During the whole process
of design and implementation, several modifications
III. METHODOLOGY
were made to the design to suit available materials
and circumstances until the final design was
The setup of this project consists of both hardware
obtained.
and software (Arduino programming in C/C++)
implementation. The hardware part consists of the
robot chassis, the Dc motors, L298N Driver module,
GSM Module, Arduino UNO board, Arduino nano
board, two 18650 batteries, 9V battery, a one-way
switch, mini submersible water pump, servo motor
and flame sensor modules. The other requirements
for the project are; the glue needed to glue some of
its parts together, the soldering iron, plastic to be
used as a water tank and a laptop for programming
the Arduino boards as well as the design of the
circuit of the project. The methods and processes
used in the realization of this project include the
physical implementation, the programming of the
robot, and the circuit design of the project. The Figure 3.2: Functional Block Diagram
whole process of the project is represented using a
Gantt chart as shown in figure below. B. Implementation process
The full implementation of the project began after
most of the components needed for the
implementation were obtained. The first step done
was to couple the robot chassis with the four
individual motors and tires together, the L298N
driver module which controls the direction of
movement of the individual motors was then
coupled to the lower vehicle chassis and the wires of
the four individual motors connected to the L298N
driver module.

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C. L298N Driver module implementation pins of the L298N driver module were connected to
After the L298 Driver module was connected to the the pins 2,4,7,8,5 and 6 respectively of the Arduino
Arduino UNO board, the various directions of UNO board. The direction of movement of the robot
movements for the robot were programmed. is then controlled by setting the IN1, IN2, IN3, and
Because the L298N driver module can be used to IN4 to either high or low depending on the intended
control only two motors, the left motors were direction as shown in table 3.1 below, while the
connected together, and the right motors were also speed of rotation of the motors is controlled using
connected together, this was to enable to L298N the ENA and ENB pins, in this project the speed of
driver module to control the direction of movement the motors was set to 120 rpm.
of the left and right motors of the vehicle. The left
motors were connected to the ‘OUT1’ and ‘OUT2’
pins of the L298N driver module, while the two right
motors were connected to the ‘OUT3’ and ‘OUT4’
ports of the L298N driver module. Connecting the
motors this way, allows the left motors to be
controlled using the IN1, IN2 (used to control the
spinning direction), and ENA pins of the L298N
driver module. The two right motors are then
controlled using the IN3, IN4 and ENB pins of the Table 3.1: Robot direction of movement
L298N driver module. All four motors are powered
through the L298N driver module by connecting the
12V pin of the L298N driver module to two (2)
18650 batteries.

Figure 3.3: DC Motors and L298N implementation

Figure 3.5: Direction of movement

D. Flame sensor module implementation

Two types of flame sensors were used; three (3) KY-
06 flame sensor modules and three (3) LM393 flame
sensor modules, both types of flame sensors are
infrared sensors, they detect and respond to the
presence of infrared rays. Three of the KY-06 flame
sensors were placed in front of the vehicle to detect
fire in three directions (left, middle and right), one
of the LM393 flame detection sensor module was
placed in front of the vehicle but attached to the
lower chassis of the vehicle, while the other two of
Figure 3.4: L298N driver module Implementation the LM393 flame detection sensor modules were
placed behind the vehicle and attached to the lower
bvcfcghvgghTo program the direction of movement chassis of the vehicle to detect fire behind the
of the robot, the IN1, IN2, IN3, IN4, ENA, and ENB vehicle. Each flame sensor module can detect flame

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at about 60° around it, the three sensors in front

ensure the robot can detect flame at about 180° in
front of it, while the two back sensors ensure that the
robot can detect flame at about 120° behind it. The
KY-06 flame sensor outputs a high voltage from its
digital output pin when fire is detected, while the
LM393 flame detection module outputs a Low from
its digital output pin when it detects fire as its digital
output pin is always high when fire is not detected.
The sensitivity of both types of flame sensor
modules can be adjusted using a potentiometer Figure 3.8: Robot after implementing the flame
attached to the flame sensor modules, adjusting the sensors
sensitivity allows the distance of detection of both E. Integrating the flame sensor modules to the robot
types of flame sensors to be set, for this project the After the six flame sensors were implemented on the
distance of detection is about 50cm. The digital vehicle by attaching it to the chassis and connecting
output pins of the three front flame sensors attached its relevant pins to the Arduino UNO board with the
to the upper chassis; left, middle and right, were help of an Arduino UNO shield, it was then
connected to the A2, 9 and A3 pins of the Arduino important to integrate the flame sensor modules with
UNO board, the digital output pin of the middle front the robot, this is to ensure that whenever fire is
sensor attached to the lower chassis was connected detected by any of the six flame sensor modules, the
to the pin 12 of the Arduino UNO board, while the robot will move in the direction of the flame to
digital output pins of the back sensors; left and right, extinguish the fire. In this project priority was placed
were connected to the A4, and A5 pins of the on the front middle sensors so that if fire is detected
Arduino UNO board respectively. across all the sensors, the robot will first move to
extinguish the fire in front of it before responding to
fire in other directions. When fire is detected in any
of the two back sensors, the robot will turn at an
angle of 360° corresponding to the direction the fire
was detected to face the fire and attempt to
extinguish it.

After integrating the flame detection sensor modules

with the robot, it was then necessary to tell the robot
when to stop if it detects and moves in the direction
of fire, this is to prevent the robot from running into
the fire. The two middle flame sensors in the front
Figure 3.6: Flame sensors Implementations of the vehicle were used to tell the robot when to stop
using the analog pins of the sensor modules, the
flame sensor modules respond to the intensity of the
fire by producing values from their analog output
pins that match bit values between 0 and 1024. The
robot was programmed to stop if the value of the
intensity of fire becomes 25, increasing the
sensitivity of both types of sensors will demand that
this value be reduced as the values are dependent on
the sensitivity of the flame sensor modules. The
analog pins of the middle sensors in front were
connected to the A0 and A1 pins of the Arduino
UNO board respectively, it is from these pins that
Figure 3.7: Position of the Flame Sensors on the the analog values used to control when the robot
robot chassis stops are obtained.

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F. Integrating the water pump system with the robot G. Implementing the GSM module
The water pump system was integrated into the robot The GSM module used for this project is the SIM
using a 5v mini submersible water pump, a water 900a GSM module, the purpose of the GSM module
pipe, and a servo motor. The servo motor was in this project is to send an SMS and a call alert to
integrated to move the nozzle of the water pipe the user whenever fire is detected in their property.
during pumping action between 0° and 120 ° in front The implementation of the GSM module was done
of the vehicle to spread the water. The servo motor using an Arduino nano board, a one-way switch, a
was programmed to always be at 90° whenever the red LED, and a 9V battery to power the Arduino
robot is turned on and then spreads the water by nano board through its Vin pin. The GSM module
moving the nozzle between 0° and 130°. The digital was powered using the two (2) 18650 batteries that
input pin of the servo motor was connected to pin 10 power the entire robot. The transmit and receive pins
of the Arduino UNO board, while the positive pin of of the GSM Module were connected to pins 9 and 10
the water pump was connected to pin 11 of the of the Arduino UNO board, and the positive pin of
Arduino UNO board. The servo motor is powered the red LED was connected to pin 4 of the Arduino
through the 5V pin of the Arduino UNO board, UNO board.
whenever the robot detects fire in any of the three
directions, it automatically moves towards the
direction of the fire detected and stops when the
analog values of the two front middle sensor
modules are below the programmed value. When it
stops, the water pump is activated and the servo
motor begins moving the water nozzle between 0°
and 130° to spread the water during water pumping
until the fire is extinguished then the pumping action
is stopped.

Figure 3.11: GSM module implementation

Figure 3.9: Water Pump system implementation

Figure 3.12: Robot with GSM Module

Implementation

G. Integrating the GSM module with the robot

operation
After the GSM Module was implemented, it was
then integrated with the robot. The GSM module
was programmed to send an SMS Alert and a call
Figure 3.10: Robot after Implementing the
alert to a mobile phone number. A duly subscribed
Pumping System
and registered SIM card of any mobile operator can
be inserted into the GSM module to send the SMS

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and call alert, the Arduino Nano which controls the

GSM module was connected to the Arduino UNO
board of the robot by connecting the pin 5 of the
Arduino nano board to the pin 3 of the Arduino UNO
board. Whenever the robot detects fire in any
direction and moves to the fire, it stops to activate
the pumping system and while the pumping system
has been activated, the Arduino UNO then sends a
high voltage signal (5v) to the Arduino nano board
through the interconnected pins, upon receiving this
voltage signal, the Arduino nano then triggers the
GSM module to send an already programmed Figure 3.14: Robot while creating a seat for placing
message to the programmed mobile phone number water tank
of the owner of the property using the inserted
mobile SIM card. For this project, the programmed I. Programming and other processes
SMS message to be sent is “Hello Jonah There is Several other processes were involved during the
Fire In your office”. design and implementation of this project some of
which includes; Soldering of wires and connections
H. Full integration of all parts of the robot on the motors, water pump, and broken infrared
After all, the individual parts of the project were sensors from the flame sensor modules, the use of a
implemented, the parts were then integrated to get glue gun to glue most of the components in the
the complete intended functionalities of the project, desired positions such as the water tank seats, the
the water pump was placed in a plastic tank that was waters tank, the battery slots, the Arduino nano
attached to the upper chassis of the vehicle. Before board, and the one-way switch for the GSM module
placing the water tank on the chassis four plastic part of the robotic vehicle. After implementation, the
bottle covers were used to provide the seat on which robot was then programmed through the Arduino
the tank was to be placed, and the battery slot IDE by uploading the programmed code onto the
housing the two 18650 3.7v batteries powering the Arduino UNO and Arduino IDE boards of the
robot was attached to the back of the water tank, the robotic vehicle, the code for the Arduino UNO was
GSM module was attached to the side of the water 223 lines including the spaces added while that of
tank, the Arduino Nano board was placed at the back the Arduino nano was 40 lines of codes including the
of the robot directly on the upper chassis and below added spaces. The entire process of the design and
the water tank, while the Arduino UNO board which implementation of this project did not strictly follow
has an Arduino UNO Shield mounted on it to enable the scheduled plan as shown in the Gantt chart of
connection of all the sensor modules and servo Figure 3.1, because during the implementation of
motor was placed at the middle of the robotic vehicle this project, a lot of troubleshooting was done to
on the upper chassis. The complete implementation ensure the robot operated as intended, this involved
of the project is shown in the diagram below. programming and re-programming, changing of
sensor positions, use of multiple batteries, etc.

Figure 3.13: Full implementation of the project

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consumes 55.45mA therefore during full operation

the battery can sustain the robot for
8800mAh/104mA (84 hours) while when idle it can
sustain the robot for 8800mAh/55.45mA (158
hours).

B. Fire Detection Distance Test

The robot was tested to see the maximum distance
for which it can detect candle fire from all directions,
left, right, front, and back of the robot, and the
distance away from the fire at which it stops. The
distances obtained are tabulated below.

Table 4.1: Fire detection test

S/N Direction Distance (cm)
1 Front 63
2 Back 45
3 left 57
4 Right 55
5 stop 17

C. GSM SMS and Call alert test

During the test, the robot sends an SMS alert within
10 seconds of activating the water pump, and a call
alert is made when the pumping has persisted for 20
seconds making the total time for the call and SMS
alert to be sent about 30 seconds after pumping has
Figure 3.25: Flow Chart
started.

IV. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

D. Fire Extinguish Test
The robot was tested to extinguish candle fire when
All the individual parts of the project integrated
detected from the front sensor at different distances
together produced the desired functionalities to
and the time it takes for extinguishing the fire was
fulfill the objective of this project within the scope
tabulated.
laid out in the first chapter of this report. The entire
robotic vehicle was designed and implemented to
Table 4.2: Fire Extinguish Test
serve two main functions; as an alert system for fire
S/N Distance (cm) Time (s)
incidents, and as a mini firefighter in cases of small
1 60 10
fire outbreaks. The entire project design was
2 50 8
achieved using Fritzing software.
3 30 5
A. Power supply testing 4 25 4
The robot is powered using two (2) 18650 batteries
of 3.7v with a rating of 8800mah. The 18650
batteries directly power the SIM GSM module, the
Arduino UNO board, and the L298N driver module.
During operation the GSM module consumes 26mA
and 23mA when idle, the Arduino UNO consumes
11.45mA when idle and 42mA when in full
operation, while the L298N driver module consumes
36mA during operation and 21mA when idle. The
total amount of current consumed during operation
by the robot is 104mA while when it is idle it Figure 4.3: Top View of the robotic vehicle

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placed on the front middle sensor so that if fire is

detected on all sensors, the robot moves to
extinguish the fire in front of it before turning to
other directions, the robot continuously takes input
from all the sensors. If fire is detected in any of the
front sensors, the robot turns in the direction of the
fire and then moves forward towards it, if fire is
detected behind the robot using any of the two back
sensors, the robot turns 180° through either the left
Figure 4.4: Left side view of the robotic vehicle or right direction depending on which sensor module
fire is detected, after turning 180° it then moves
forward towards the fire, whenever the robot moves
forward towards the fire, it takes analog inputs from
the two middle sensor modules in front to detect the
intensity of the fire, once it gets close enough to the
fire, the robotic vehicle automatically stops, it then
automatically activates the water pump. When the
water starts pumping, the servo motor moves the
nozzle between 0° and 130° to spread the water as it
pumps, while the water is pumping, the GSM
module is then triggered to send an SMS alert to the
Figure 4.5: Right side view of the robotic vehicle owner of the property notifying them of the fire
outbreak in their property and after few seconds if
the fire persists, a call alert is made to the owner of
the property this is for situations where the owner
does not quickly notice an SMS on their mobile
phones. When the fire has been extinguished, the
robot stops pumping the water and then continues
taking input from all the sensors to detect fire.

V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The use of robots to aid in human operations, and

Figure 4.8: An inclined front view of the robotic provide solutions to several problems is becoming
vehicle more popular by the day, and when it comes to fire
outbreaks and disasters, this project which is a
robotic fire-fighting vehicle that can be deployed
indoors in laboratories, workshops, offices, libraries,
and any other property where fire outbreak is to be
prevented to serve as a solution to the early detection
of fire and to send an SMS and call alert to users.
The robot will also attempt to extinguish the fire
except in situations where the fire becomes too big
for the robot to handle, in such cases, the robot
would have already sent an SMS or call alert to the
property owner. More ways and methods of
Figure 4.9: An inclined back view of the robot providing solutions to this problem should be
developed and alongside robots like this, many lives
E. Operation of the Robot and property will be protected from fire disasters.
When the robot is turned on, all its sensors get
activated and the robot starts taking inputs from all
six flame detection sensor modules, priority is

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 © JAN 2024 | IRE Journals | Volume 7 Issue 7 | ISSN: 2456-8880

A. Achievements ultraviolet flame sensors which can sense fire at a

In this project, an Arduino-based firefighting robot longer distance.
was successfully designed and implemented to serve 4) Bigger components such as the chassis and the
as a solution to the problem of increasing number of tank can be used to increase the size of the robot as
lives and properties lost due to fire outbreaks and well as the amount of water it can hold so that it can
disasters the objectives fully achieved in this project be used for bigger scenarios.
are; 5) A water level detector can be installed in the water
1) The design and construction of a robotic vehicle tank of the robotic vehicle so that whenever the
that can detect fire within the property it operates, robotic vehicle sends an SMS alert to the owner it
navigate automatically to where the fire is, and start can also send the water level of the tank as well.
pumping water to extinguish it. 6) In cases where fire is detected in all the sensors,
2) The design and implementation of a GSM SMS the robot can be modified so that priority should be
and Call alert system that will notify property placed on the intensity of the fire and not the
(homes, offices, etc.) owners of fire accidents within direction of the fire, this can be achieved by using
their property even during their absence. bigger microcontroller boards with multiple pins and
3) Proper study and understanding of how to durability.
interface sensor modules with an Arduino board, and 8) Alongside a GSM alert system, a fire alarm
also program an Arduino board to enable system can also be included in the project to alert
communication between the sensor modules and neighbors of fire outbreaks.
other digital components.
4) The design of a robotic firefighting vehicle that is C. Limitations
cost-effective and can be used to protect lives and The limitations observed in this project include;
properties that are far greater in value than the entire 1) The robot cannot detect fire at longer distances
cost of constructing the project. Fire incidents can beyond 50cm due to the limited range of detection
cause losses running into millions of naira and this of the infrared flame detection sensor modules, this
can be avoided by using a project like this to detect can be solved by using ultraviolet flame sensors, but
fire at early stages preventing such huge losses as the they are more expensive and will increase the overall
case may be. cost of the project.
2) The robot cannot last long during pumping action
B. Future Scope as the water tank provided is small in size and the
During the research stage of this project, a lot of water will run out quickly. In a bigger model, bigger
other similar works designed to perform a similar water tanks can be provided.
function with either similar or fewer features were 4) The robotic vehicle can only be used indoors as
discovered. A unique feature of this project is the the infrared sensor modules respond to the infrared
flexibility it provides its users to decide on whether rays coming from the sun when used outdoors.
the robot will serve just as a fire extinguishing
system or as both a fire extinguishing system and a D. Problems encountered and solutions
fire alert system as the user can simply switch off the During the entire process of design and
fire alert part of the robotic vehicle. Several implementation of this project, certain problems
modifications and additions can be made to improve were encountered, these include;
this project, some of which include; 1) Most of the components and materials used in the
1) Instead of tires, tracks can be used to increase the project were imported which led to a huge delay in
durability of the project especially when it is to be the project due to the time it took for the ordered
used or placed in locations that can cause damage to components to arrive in the country.
its tires, as tires can easily get damaged. 2) Several sensors were burnt, while some had their
2) The robot can be enhanced by interfacing it with infrared sensors broken and had to be resoldered
a camera so that the property owner can view the back to their positions and the burnt sensors were
robot's surroundings remotely when it is in operation replaced with new ones.
wherever they are. 3) In the course of integrating the whole project
3) To increase the distance of sensitivity of the robot together, there were times when the robot did not
to fire, the infrared flame sensors can be upgraded to operate as intended due to one or two connecting
cables not being tightly fixed into the pins of the

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 © JAN 2024 | IRE Journals | Volume 7 Issue 7 | ISSN: 2456-8880

Arduino shield this was difficult to identify as there [7] Md. Mahmudul Hasan and Nayeem Al-Tamzid
were many cables and parts integrated together. Bhuiyan, "A multi-sensor based fire fighting
4) The project was programmed and re-programmed robot with wireless control and visual system,"
countless times to achieve the desired outcome This Recent Research in Science and Technology,
was time-consuming due to the complexity of the vol. 12, no. 10, pp. 6-13, 2020.
codes as the number of parts integrated was much. [8] J Jalani, D Misman, A S Sadun and L C Hong,
"Automatic fire fighting robot with
E. Conclusion notification," Materials Science and
The entire process of design and implementation of Engineering, vol. 12, no. 02, p. 637, 2019.
this project was a very interesting one, the project
[9] Sushrut Khajuria, Rakesh Johar, Varenyam
will improve the safety of indoors, from fire
Sharma and Abhideep Bhatti, "Arduino Based
incidents and contribute positively to reducing the
Fire Fighter Robot," International Journal of
number of lives, property, and infrastructure that are
Scientific Engineering and Research (IJSER),
lost daily due to fire incidents. By placing this
vol. 05, no. 05, pp. 124-125, 2017.
project in multiple infrastructures, a lot of fire
incidents will be detected at early stages, giving the [10] Komal N. Ambadkar, Vaishnavee A. Gorte,
users of the property an advantage of time to quickly Shravasti M. Rekhate, Renuka D. Nichit,
alert firefighting agencies and prevent fire disasters. Pratik A. Gaupal and P. K .Khedkar, "Fire
Fighting Robot Using Arduino," International
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