Comments on: Wiimote firefighting robot

By: WiiData

WiiData — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 12:06:33 +0000

Great Mod. I'll soon writ an article bout it @ http://www.wiidata.net

By: Sorcerer

Sorcerer — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:47:23 +0000

LOL! Won’t the propeller just fan the flames?

By: Hax

Hax — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:13:49 +0000

This would be great if scaled up to say powerwheels Jeep size with a decent pump and water tank attached.

By: guy

guy — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 01:03:51 +0000

yeah, i also find the use of a fan odd. Perhaps the ‘grown up’ version can use a can of compressed CO2.

Bodiby: it doesn’t matter which toy company he worked for, he probably works for mattel now ;)

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:40:50 +0000

Wouldn’t the fan just ‘fan’ the fire so to speak? I’d probably add a mini-fire extinguisher.. it would only weigh a few extra ounces.

By: Nox13last

Nox13last — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:46:30 +0000

(Alex McCown: now add a flame thrower on it) QFT, That will win our wars.

By: Marco

Marco — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 00:57:01 +0000

You lack vision !
If it’s a larger fire you just add more wiimotes to the bot..d’uh ;-)

By: bluehash

bluehash — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 00:39:59 +0000

Very good setup.This is all I needed to control stuff from my Nokia N800. It’s already got bluetooth, and works on Linux.Cheers to open source!

By: bodiby

bodiby — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 20:57:46 +0000

as josh said, this is a common goal used for robotics contests. i remember the robotics club in my college building one of these bots over 10 years ago. the contest winner ending up being a guy that worked at a major toy company (mattel i think). he built a wall following robot that moved pretty fast.

By: nom1

nom1 — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:40:51 +0000

This is probably the best hack here for a long time. It is a well implemented proof of concept of such a robot with an extraordinary way of achieving its goal. Of course you cant stop a fire with a fan, you will make it just bigger! but that is not the point.

By: Bruno

Bruno — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:27:31 +0000

@ James.

This seems to just be proof of concept. The power to the motor could be used to control anything. Like a relay that would activate a pump.

By: josh

josh — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:21:24 +0000

james- "firefighting robot" is a term of art. it refers to a robot designed to autonomously:
.: navigate a series of rooms/hallways
.: identify the "fire", which is a lit candle
.: stop the "fire"
.: (and maybe then gtfo)
the event itself was started by Trinity College (http://www.trincoll.edu/events/robot/) and has become something of a standard.

By: Ice9

Ice9 — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:06:16 +0000

Would this work with only a nunchuck or do you need the whole wiimote?

By: OldVamp

OldVamp — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 10:38:22 +0000

I think its really more of a proof of concept than a top of the line bot.

By: right side left place

right side left place — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 09:46:36 +0000

Put that entire thing in an oven mitt, ( Except for the wheels and heat sensor)

and then take it outside and light a cracker jack box on fire, and see what it does after you turn it on.