Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2019

Abstract

The department of Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) of Pittsburg State University has designed a prototype of an autonomous rover to help firefighters to find lives trapped in a building during an event of fire. The rover prototype has been named CAFS, which is the abbreviated form for Civilian Acquirer for Fire Safety. This device intends to produce the first ever autonomous system to locate, record, and transmit people’s location from within a building to a user outside of the building. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), on 2017, 72% of the fire that happened in the USA was structural fire, which brought 77% civilian fire deaths that occurred inside a building. The U.S. Fire Statistics states that fire deaths have increased by 9.6% from 2008 to 2017. People now need a solution where the existing fire safety system is failing. Therefore, CAFS is under development. It is a motorized rover which follows a pre-programmed path and navigates through debris and obstructions using its on board sensors to detect and record the amount of people within a room and transmit the data out to a firefighter via wireless communication. Intended to be used during fire hazards, upon a successful build and design in the future, this device has the potential to save many lives, including victims of a fire, and firefighters alike.

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