In the line of fire

Compact robots that scuttle across the landscape like huge armour-plated beetles may one day help humans fight deadly forest fires in remote areas, according to a team of German scientists. Looking like old-fashioned Volkswagen beetle cars – except with multiple legs where the wheels ought to be – a brigade of these robots could carry water or foam extinguishing agents to the most dangerous fire-fighting locations – places where humans would face certain peril. A small army of 30 such robots could survey a 7,000 sq km area, researchers say. A robot equipped with tanks of water and fire-extinguishing agents, the OLE would be autonomous and guided by GPS, intelligent feelers, and infrared and heat sensors, says a report in Popular Science magazine. Inspired by the interlinking armour of the common pill bug, Armadillidium vulgare, the OLE (which stands for ‘Offroad Loescheinheit’, or ‘off-road extinguishing unit’) is a product of the industrial-design studio at the University of Magdeburg-Stendal near Berlin, says the report. Design Professor Ulrich Wohlgemuth, along with biologist and robot-systems manager Oliver Lange, students, and members of the design firm Transluszent, collaborated on the concept robot. Even in areas where acrid smoke and heat would be daunting to humans, the armour-plated OLEs could swarm in to fight fires. That armour is OLE’s fireproof suit. The six legs have a similar protective purpose. “Walking can be nice, but it is generally useless for robots,” Lange says. “Nature invented walking because it cannot invent the wheel from flesh and blood. In this case, if you have wheels, you always have contact with the forest,” he says. “The concept behind OLE is that he’s digging, and he’s near heat. Legs don’t always have contact with heat,” he explains. “And from a roboticist’s perspective, six legs is the perfect number, providing stability and making it easy to calculate movement points.” Like so many other robots, the OLE is biologically inspired – modelled after the pill bug beetles with several body segments that make them capable of rolling into a ball. Similarly, when the OLE detects danger such as too much heat, it can roll into a ball. Its shell then protects the delicate electronic innards from heat up to 1,300 degrees Celsius. When it is not balled up, its six legs can move at around 10-20 kmph, depending on environmental conditions. And in case pranksters want to steal one of them from the forest, a GPS beacon on board could be used to track it down. Popular Science adds that an OLE prototype is being made from fire-resistant, ceramic-fibre compounds that could withstand temperatures up to 1,100 degrees Celsius. The final version of the OLE would cost between $1,25,000-$2,00,000 (Rs 50 lakh – Rs 80 lakh approx), the researchers say. mumbai news