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Anna Konda, the Robotic Firefighter
Roland Piquepaille writes "In fact, Anna Konda is a robotic fire hose moving like a snake. This robot, which has been developed in Norway by SINTEF, is 3 m long and weighs 70 kg. The snake contains 20 water hydraulic motors that move the robotic joints. And the energy needed to power these motors comes from water pressurized to 100 bars and already available inside the fire hose. This gives enough energy to this water-powered robot to climb up stairs, to lift a car up off the ground or even break through a wall. Very clever design! The designers think that this robot could not only replace humans to fight fires when it's too dangerous for them, but could also be used for subsea operations or explosion prevention. An additional overview contains more details and pictures of this snake robot."
The headline was more exciting when I skimmed it the first time. I thought it was going to be about a robotic snake-shaped gladiator that whipped around like a fire hose.
Well, I guess saving people is all right too.
The next SciFi channel movie.
"To face death, that's nothing much. But to feel really stupid when you die, well, that would be insufferable."
We shall need to wait a few years to see if anything practical comes out of the research.
I'll bet there aren't ANY jokes to be made about the second pic of Pål Liljebäck with that impressive thing...
Imagine the possibilities!
We could fight forest fires better
Is there anywere in either artical that says how it moves forwards? I'm currently making a robot snake of my own, and the rectilinear motion is by far the most difficult part of the physical design. I'm assuming it uses wheel, but can tell from the images.
Great stuff. It not entirely new though.
This is my fave out there at the mo. Snake link (click the images for vids)
Because you can - or because you should?
that's a porn star name if i ever heard one. perhaps a chick with dick performer..
Here's the real link to the research. As usual, Roland the Plogger is posting a story from a blog, maximizing ad revenue, and the actual reference has been lost. One would think that Slashdot's "editors" would be wise to this by now, but they still don't get it.
It;s only a prototype; the water stream that comes out is more like a garden hose than a fire hose.
I'd never have figured it out by myself! I bet you're related to Albert Einstein or somebody like that.
What kind of fire engine puts out 100 bars?? That's 1450 psi! The typical city pumper is designed for 200 psi. Most of the hoses are only rated to a couple hundred. They need to seriously dial down the pressure requirements if this is to be used in any kind of existing firefighting application.
It's in interesting idea, but it also has the usual drawbacks, namely it is extremely difficult to move 200 feet of 2-1/2" for a team of firefighters when the line is charged - the weight is not the only problem. A charged line is stiff (ha, ha), so moving it arount corners, into rooms, up and down stairs, etc. is very awkward. You can't just drain a line every time you want to move it. It takes too long. So, you normally have to move a line while it's completely empty (called "flaking" the line), then charge it, or after it's charged, fight with the line the whole way. On top of all that, it's very easy to kink or even twist and decouple hose, which is, of course, disasterous. Normally what we do is carry as much line as we think we are going to need to a safe zone of the structure we're fighting, then flake it into big loops right there. That way we have all the hose we need in one place, and we can just extend into the hot zone without kinking, and also dragging the charged line the minimum distance to do the work we are going to do.
There is also the other problem: We typically charge our lines to the point where the nozzle-man's feet just leave the ground, then we ease back so they are just barely on the ground. This maximizes our flow into the area we are fighting. With a two-person nozzle team that means we have in the neighborhood of 600-700 lbs of ballast to offset the reaction force at the tip (the force of the water exiting the nozzle that is pushing back on it, which would result in the hose flying all over the place otherwise). (The 600-700 lbs is the weight of two firefighters, their bunker gear, air packs, etc.). The robot only weights 70kg, so it won't have nearly the control of the tip, which means that you can't push nearly the water.
I could see this as a good application when trying to work in a warehouse or supermarket, where the distance from the door is large. However, the device is going to need assistance to move a great distance since the line has to be charged in order for it to function, but if the line is charged it becomes much harder to move the line. That combination seems to defeat the purpose - of keeping firefighters out of harm's way.
Personally I'm in favor of our current option "b" - trench cut the roof (long cut perpendicular to the path of the fire, in an area we know is good), then drown the cut with water from a ladder pipe, which causes a water curtain - the good part of the building is saved by the water curtain, which means we can fight the remainder from a position of strength.
Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.
Never forget: 2 + 2 = 5 for extremely large values of 2.
This has been done before
I have HAD it with this motherfucking hose on this motherfucking fire truck!
ROMANES EUNT DOMUS
'Less the fire's got buns hun!
http://www.delaware.org/buns_fire.htm
In other news, Japan has spent all their GDP and is taking out loans to buy new firehoses. "We've always wanted to make our films more lifelike. Now we get to make our life like the films. -Pardon me-" [turns on spaceship and eight firehoses are activated].
I'm assuming from your post that your "robot snake" is made of toilet paper tubes and matchbox cars.
Try not to make stuff up unless you have some vague idea of what you are talking about.
Her greatest nemesis: Flameosapien!
Fnord.
Keep the hose partially charged when moving, to stop kinking, then max the pressure when you get it in position. This would be a great asset when fighting shipboard fires where you do not have the optional advantage of fighting the fire from outside the structure.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
With a description like "a robotic fire hose moving like a snake"
can this device's next role be anything but...
"Anna Konda, the Robotic Porn Star"
The robot war had been lost... We destroyed unmanned aircraft, and beat back the evil spider bots... But these damn snakes kept crushing our skulls and spraying water all over our carcasses, making them wet.
You take it, I don't want it...
In fact, Anna Konda is a robotic fire hose moving like a snake.
Is there any chance that these will be available, on say, planes?
Push Button, Receive Bacon
Hmmm...this looks like the kind of handy tool Kryten would be able to attach to his "groinal socket".
make a hose that can stiffen and hold its bent/curved shape when under pressure? That way you could use existing building structural components to "brace" the hose
..........FULL STOP.
The blog of 'Roland' earns them a very tidy sum.
It amazes me that guys like you can't see the obvious: why else would every single submission by 'Roland' get plastered on Slashdot? Why else the earlier submission of the same article (from the original sources, no less) by other submitters is always ignored?
'Roland' is just an extension of Slashdot's marketing machine. How can you imagine otherwise?
The Worlds Most Sophisticated Firehose
(Dagbladet.no): Tenk deg en situasjon hvor du er innestengt som følge av brann, snøras eller jordskjelv, og det er for farlig for hjelpemannskapet å gå inn og redde deg. Det er da Snakefighteren Anna Konda kommer glidende inn, på skrå sidelengs som en ørkenslange.
(Dagbladet.no): Imagine a situation where you're trapped due to a fire, snow avalaunch or earthquake, and it's too dangerous for the rescue crew to enter to save you. That's when the Snakefighter Anna Konda comes gliding in, sideways like a desert snake.
Hun er verdens sterkeste og mest avanserte brannslange, ifølge SINTEF-forskerne Pål Liljebäck og Øyvind Stavdal som har utviklet henne.
She's the world's strongest and most advanced firehose, according to SINTEF researchers Pål Liljebäck and Øyvind Stavdal, who developed her.
En Anakonda av metall, smidig, sterk og smart, inspirert av naturen selv. Hun kommer hun seg frem gjennom alt slags terreng, og har sanser som en vanlig slange ikke har.
An Anaconda of metal, agile, strong and smart, inspired by nature itself. She moves through all kinds of terrain, and has senses that a regular snake lacks.
Hun kan heve hodet og sprute vann, slå gjennom vegger med en slagkraft på 700 kg i tyngdefeltet, løfte vekk objekter for å frigjøre fastklemte dyr eller mennesker og bringe gassmasker. Ved hjelp av infrarødt kamera, ultralyd og sensorer skal hun kunne finne kropper og kartlegge et område.
She can lift her head and spray water, break down walls with a gravity of 700 kg, lift away objects to free trapped animals or people, and bring gas masks. With an infrared camera, ultrasound and sensors, she'll be able to find bodies and map an area.
- Snakefighteren representerer en ny æra i brannslukning, sier Pål Liljebäck ved SINTEFs avdeling for anvendt kybernetikk til Dagbladet.no.
- The Snakefighter represents a new era in fire extinguishing, says Pål Liljebäck at SINTEF's department for applied cybernetics to Dagbladet.no.
Han presiserer at slangen er et verktøy, ikke en erstatning for brannfolk, for hun er ikke skapt for å dra med seg objekter.
He notes that the snake is a tool, not a replacement for fire crews, since she wasn't created for towing objects.
Vannhydraulikk
Anna Konda drives av vannhydraulikk, som er nærmest et ikke-eksisterende fagfelt i dag, ifølge de to forskerne. Det vil si at det er vannkraft som driver musklene til den tre meter lange, 16 cm i diameter tjukke og 70 kilo tunge slangen. På et brannåsted kan hun tilkobles en brannslange. Er det snakk om en sammenrast bygning, kan hun ha en innebygget dieselmotor og ha med eget vann. Hun beveger seg med en hastighet på 20 - 30 cm i sekundet, men målet er en fart på en meter i sekundet.
Anna Konda is powered by water hydraulics, a virtually non-existing field today, according to the two scientists. This means that water power is powering the "muscles" of the 3 meter long, 16 cm in diameter thick and 70 kg heavy snake. In a fire location she can be connected to a firehose. In the case of a collapsed building, she can carry her own diesel engine and her own water. She moves with a speed of 20 - 30 cm per second, but the goal is a speed of 1 meter per second.
Slangen skal dels fjernstyres, dels ta egne avgjørelser. Hun bruker så kompliserte bevegelser at hun selv må greie føle seg frem i terrenget og beregne hvordan hun skal ta seg frem. Men en operatør skal kunne gi overordnede instrukser.
The snake will partly be remote controlled, partly make her own decisions. She uses such complex movements that she has to feel herself through the terrain and calc
Due to the complete lack of pictures in the source article, here's some for your appetite...
Anna Konda in action (JPEG, 844x453)
Close-up of a segment (JPEG, 280x210)
Its nice to hear from people who actually know their stuff. I can't think of any other forum where that can happen.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Would any ladies in the Slashdot community care to comment on other applications of this robotic snake?
Join Tor today!
If you're gonna have snakes, you must have planes, too.
Oh wait, thats the fire breathing mindless snake.
For some other snake robots, check out these links:
http://www.snakerobots.com/
http://arctangent.8k.com/snake/snakemain.htm
Space and Computers.
Well, I for one would like to welcome our robotic snake overlords....
no hang on - that one's been done to death...
Only on Slashdot is the first post modded Redundant...
not to pick a snit.. but please defend your statement this Internet of ours is primarily a textual medium
do you mean internet, or WWW? (one is a subset of the other)
in terms of data volume, I doubt the majority of the bits are for plain old ascii..
I bet reading all text on the internet RIGHT NOW would take less time than studying EVERY picture available or watch EVERY video available.
I personally think of it as more along the lines of a communications medium.
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Great ... but what about the many people who are afraid of snakes? How is the anna konda going to help them overcoming their fear? Hssssssssssssss ...
If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough. (Alan Kay)
I ain't no plogger. Just a polymer engineer with a taste for code.
...This Cartoon. Seems like Fire/EMS are the only fields in America where pride is still a part of the job. How is this machine supposed to cut holes in roofs, pull people out of homes, pull people out of cars without breaking their necks, and ventilate a house? Not a firefighter if it can't do all that and more :P
Sig: I stole this sig.
I, for one, welcome our new robotic firefighting overlords!
Does this mean we'll see Robotic Snakes on a Plane next?
Anyone remember the self-assembling, fire-fighting tube / triangle things in Metropolis? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(2001_film )
Funny how Roland's comments are usually modded -1, whereas he gets all his submissions accepted. See http://slashdot.org/~Roland+Piquepaille/
Perhaps Slashdot's editors like his, um, "writing style" better than the rest of us.
Anyone up to writing a Firefox plugin to filter the Piquepaillespam out of Slashdot?every story he submits
:wq
try http://slashdot.org/~rpiquepa instead
Does it run Python?
Wow - how's that for a freaky coincidence?
What are the chances of there being two users with a name like "Roland Piquepaille"?!!
http://www.sintef.com/upload/IKT/9023/AnnaKonda.jp g
One of those really powerful supersoaker squirt guns, but a squirt gun nonetheless.
The segements don't appear to have enough space inside to pass a decent-sized hose, nor room for a valve to control that much water and as is pointed out in another thread, the force of the water leaving a decent size hose would move this thing out of position anyway.
It seemed like a good idea. Now I'm not so sure it's practical.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Why does this remind me of the kool-aid pitcher?
Well I, for one, welcome our new Robotic Snake overlords.