Fire Fighting Drone Overview

The first tests of the extinguisher proved that the orientation wasn't the best. 

The bottle was intended to be fired vertically. On its side the hose only picked up half of the contents. 

The solution was to heat the hose and bend it downward in order to scrape the bottom the barrel!

The motors used were Avroto 3515 kv400. They have roughly 4 pounds (1.8 kg) of thrust each. More than enough for this project.

For the flight controller, Peter utilized an Eagle Tree Vector which also has that awesome OSD.

The firing mechanism consisted of two powerful servos that had to be isolated on their own reciever. This was mainly for safety so it wouldn't interrupt the flight controller if anything did go wrong.

The servos simply pulled this small cable...

...which wrapped around the trigger. 

Here you can see the complete mess of wires that makes this baby tick.

The custom landing gear was made from aluminum. It's the same material you can get from your local hardware store. 

For the cool emergency lights, Peter hooked up this super cheap RGB LED controler. It has several different functions that make the lights flash in different patterns.

For the initial test, firing vertically was not optimal. With all the rotor wash, and being directly above the flame, it actually fanned the fire and made it worse. The powder was also dispersed before it even got to the fire. 

The solution, was a new solution! A mix of water, baking soda, and dish soap were fired horizontally in order to keep the rotors away from the fire. 

If you have any cool projects like this that you've made, make an article here on FliteTest.com! Share your skills and swap tips with like minded pilots. 

As always thank you for being part of the Flite Test Family!