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🚒 Autonomous Arduino Firetruck

An Arduino-powered autonomous firetruck that detects and navigates toward flames, combining circuit design, mechanical assembly, and algorithm development to extinguish fires with a servo-aimed water nozzle.

🎥 Demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Vn9u5bldI

🏆 Awarded Best Integration Project at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf

📌 Overview

Inspired by major historical and recent fire disasters, our team built a miniature autonomous firefighting vehicle to explore how low-cost embedded systems can assist with detection, navigation, and fire suppression.

The prototype autonomously searches for a flame source, avoids obstacles, and activates a water spraying sequence once it aligns with the fire.

🎯 The Challenge

Design a small-scale firetruck that can:

  • Detect flames without human intervention
  • Navigate toward the fire while avoiding obstacles
  • Extinguish the flame efficiently using a limited onboard water reservoir
  • Operate reliably despite hardware constraints (water leaks, sensor noise, limited motor torque)

📸 Media

✨ Key Features

🧭 Autonomous Navigation

  • 4 ultrasonic sensors (Front / Left / Right / Back)
  • Stops motors when an obstacle is too close (safety threshold)

🔥 Fire Detection + Targeting

  • 8 infrared flame sensors positioned around the vehicle to localize fire direction
  • Prioritized logic:
    • Center flame detection triggers approach + extinguish
    • Left/right flame detection triggers alignment turns
    • Diagonal/rear detections trigger timed repositioning maneuvers

💦 Fire Extinguishing System

  • Water output pump to spray
  • Servo motor sweeps the nozzle to increase coverage
  • Siren (buzzer) during firefighting mode

🚰 Water Level Monitoring

  • Analog water level sensor
  • 10-LED “fuel gauge” style indicator showing remaining water

🧴 Refill Mode

  • Manual refill button triggers the intake pump for a fixed duration

🧰 Technical Specifications

Control System

  • Arduino Mega (large I/O for many sensors + actuators)

Sensors

  • Ultrasonic (HC-SR04): obstacle detection
  • IR flame sensors: flame localization
  • Custom water level sensor: remaining water monitoring

Actuation

  • Differential drive DC motors (motor driver control)
  • Two pumps:
    • Intake pump (refill)
    • Output pump (spray)
  • Servo motor for nozzle direction control
  • Buzzer for siren feedback

🧠 Software Architecture

Main loop stages

  1. Read sensors (water level, flame array, ultrasonic distances)
  2. Update water-level LED bar
  3. Handle refill button
  4. Fire response state machine (priority-ordered):
    • Center flame → approach + spray + servo sweep
    • Left/right flame → align via turns
    • Off-axis flame → timed reposition movements
  5. Safety stop if any ultrasonic reading is below threshold

Threshold Calibration

The project uses two detection thresholds:

  • threshold1: front sensors
  • threshold2: side/rear sensors

These require tuning depending on ambient light and the specific flame sensors used.

🗂️ Hardware Pin Map

Sensors

  • Water level: 46
  • Flame: A1, A3, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A10
  • Ultrasonic:
    • Front: trig 29, echo 23
    • Left: trig 33, echo 31
    • Right: trig 37, echo 27
    • Back: trig 25, echo 35

Motors

  • Enable: enALB=5, enBRB=4
  • Direction: 49, 51, 47, 45

Pumps

  • Output pump: enAOUT=8, in1OUT=9, in2OUT=10
  • Intake pump: enBIN=3, in3IN=11, in4IN=12

Other

  • Servo: 41
  • Fill button: 13 (INPUT_PULLUP)
  • Water LEDs: 22,24,26,28,30,32,34,36,38,40
  • Buzzer: 39

🚀 Setup / Upload

Requirements

  • Arduino IDE
  • Arduino Mega board
  • Libraries:
    • Servo (built-in)
    • SR04 (install via Library Manager or include locally)

Steps

  1. Open the project in Arduino IDE
  2. Select Board: Arduino Mega
  3. Select the correct port
  4. Upload

🏁 Achievements & Learnings

  • 🏆 Won the Best Integration Project award at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf
  • Delivered a functional prototype capable of detecting and extinguishing simulated fires
  • Solved real-world build issues:
    • Leak-proof water container design
    • Sensor reliability and noise in changing light conditions
    • Balancing vehicle weight vs motor torque
  • Gained hands-on experience in:
    • Embedded programming and sensor fusion
    • Mechanical assembly and prototyping
    • Actuator control (motors, pumps, servo)
    • Designing autonomous behavior under constraints

🔭 Future Directions

  • Replace timed turning with closed-loop alignment (turn until centered flame)
  • Improve flame localization using sensor weighting / triangulation
  • Add better path planning for obstacles (instead of hard stop)
  • Upgrade sensors for higher accuracy and robustness
  • Optimize mechanical design (lighter chassis, better motor sizing, improved tank seals)

✅ Conclusion

This project demonstrates how an autonomous vehicle can integrate sensing, navigation, and actuation to support firefighting tasks. While built as a miniature prototype, it highlights the potential of robotics in emergency-response scenarios and provides a strong foundation for future iterations.