Pokey the Firefighting Robot

Pokey is a fully autonomous, scratch built robot intended to compete in the Fort Collins Robotic Firefighting Challenge. It seeks a lit candle in a fixed maze and puts out the candle. Or at least that's what it was supposed to do. :)

The robot uses a Pololu LV168 microcontroller board with AVR ATmega168 and built in motor drivers and other goodies. It senses flames with IR LEDs acting as photodiodes, amplified optically with a flashlight reflector and electrically with an op amp circuit.

Wall following and collision avoidance is achieved by dual Sharp GP2D12 IR distance sensors mounted at 90° angle on a servo actuated rotating array. The robot detects regulation white floor stripes via two Lynxmotion IR sensors.

The drive system is a dual motor gearbox from Tamiya using Mabuchi motors.

Chassis is made of plywood.

Pokey appeared in Robot Magazine in an article on the firefighting competition. Pokey lost. :)

The robot is intended to be somewhat modular, so he's awaiting refit for his next assignment...

Seeks candle in maze and extinguishes.

  • Actuators / output devices: Tamiya dual gearbox
  • Control method: fully autonomous
  • CPU: Atmel ATmega168
  • Power source: 3 NiMH AA batteries
  • Programming language: C
  • Sensors / input devices: IR flame detectors, Sharp IR rangers, Lynxmotion IR floor sensors
  • Target environment: Trinity College Firefighting Maze

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/pokey-the-firefighting-robot

Cool little firefighter.
Cool little firefighter. Great video, really fun to see!

poor pokey :frowning:
It’s a great design! I don’t see how you lost…

hheheeh great show :wink:
hheheeh great show :wink:

Thanx :slight_smile: I am hoping to

Thanx :slight_smile: I am hoping to have another chance one of these days… just needs some refinement. Yeah, that’s it. :slight_smile:

I have some redesigns are in the works. Flame sensor and wall sensors in particular.

Michael