DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE

ROBOT

Table of Contents:1. Abstract

...02
2. Introduction
.02
3. Literature
Survey
05
4. Problem
Description
...06
5. Block
Diagram
06
5.1. Robot
Module
..07
5.1.1. DC
Motor
..07
5.1.2. Solenoid
Valve
..07
5.1.3.

Safety

Balloon

..0

5.2.CCTV

Camera

..08

5.3.Advanced Digital Oxygen Supply

System
...09
5.4.Relay
.09
5.5.Controller
Unit
..09
5.6.Display Unit

09

6. Method
of
Rescuing
10

[Type text]

7. Conclusion
..11
8. Future
Scope
...12
9. References
...13

ME DEPARTMENT, SRMGPC, LUCKNOW

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[Type text]

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE

ROBOT

Design & Development of

Borewell Rescue Robot
1. ABSTRACT:The aim of this project is to give an innovative
concept to handle the bore well rescue operations. Nowadays
child often falls down in the borehole which is left uncovered
and get trapped. It is difficult and also risky to rescue the
trapped children to aid in such rescue we proposed a system
of designing robots to the rescue of a child in a borehole. The
robot structure consists of power supply, switch pad, gear
motors, Oxygen concentrator, camera and Microcontroller.
The condition of trapped child is captured with CCTV camera
and monitored on a TV. A safety balloon is introduced in
order to provide extra safety. Once the lifting rod reaches a
safe position under the child, an air compressor is operated to
pump air to the bladder attached to the end of the lifting rod
through an air tube that runs downwards inside the lifting rod.
The bladder provides a safe seating to the child. When the
child is secure, the lifting rod is contracted to its maximum
position. The motor is then reversely operated so as to
unclamp the system. Simultaneously, it is lifted out of the
well using a chain or rope. The programming language is
Embedded C which is executed by MP lab Integrated
Development Environment. This robot type machine can
rescue trapped body from the bore well in a minimum amount
of time and safety.

2. INTRODUCTION:Todays major problem faced by human society is

water scarcity, which leads to a large number of bore wells
being sunk. These bore wells in turn have started to take
many innocent lives. Bores which yielded water and
subsequently got depleted are left uncovered. Small children

without noticing the hole dug for the bore will slip in and get
trapped. There is no proper technique to rescue victims of
such accidents. When the make shift local arrangements do
not work. In most cases reported so far, a parallel hole is dug
and then horizontal path is made to reach to the subjects
body. It is not only a time taking process, but also risky in
various ways.
Moreover, it involves a lot of energy and
expensive

resources

which

are

not

easily

available

everywhere and in this process, we always need big space

around the trapped bore that we can dig a parallel bore. These
ad-hoc approaches involve heavy risks, including the
possibility of injuries to the body of the subject during the
rescue operation. Also, the body

ME DEPARTMENT, SRMGPC, LUCKNOW

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DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE ROBOT

may trap further in the debris and the crisis deepens even more means death. In most cases,
we rely on some make shift arrangements. This does not assure us of any long term solution.
In such methods some kind of hooks are employed to hold the sufferers clothes and body.
This may cause wounds on the body of the subject. After studying all the cases we found a
serious issue to do, to make a such robotic machine which can go through the trapped bore
well without any support and grasp the trapped body at least minimum time with providing
facilities of oxygen cylinder, safety balloon. With this machine, there is no chance of
damaging human body and other minor damages, and we called that machine as Bore Well
Child Saver Machine.

Fig. 1: A Miraculous escape of small child in bore well

The following Table no: 1 shows some cases of trapped children in borehole in India last five
years.

Table 1 : Incidents of trapping children in bore wells

S.
No.
1.

Name of Child

Age

Place of Incident

R Madhumita

Villupuram Distt,
Tamilnadu

2.

Radheshyam

2.5

Churu Distt, Jaipur

3.

Chotu

Karauli Distt,
Rajasthan

ME DEPARTMENT, SRMGPC, LUCKNOW

Alive or not
Recovered
Recovered alive
but died in
hospital
Died in Hospital
Not alive

Source of
Information
The Times of
India
(5/4/2014)
The Times of
India
(7/1/2014)
IBN Live
(10/8/2013)

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DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE ROBOT

4.

Tanu

Palwal, Harryana

Alive

5.

Muthulakshmi

Died in hospital

6.

K Ajith

7.

Mahi

Suryapalli Village,
Tamilnadu
Karimnagar, Andhra
Pradesh
Gurgaon

8.

Tirumalesh

Not alive

9.

Ankit

10.

Asmita

Mahbubnagar, Andhra
Pradesh
Raimalpura Village,
Kochi
Rajkot, Gujrat

11.

Om Santosh Devre

1.5

Nasik

Not alive

12.

Dilnaaj Kaur

Not alive

13.

Ankita Wada

2.5

Dheera Village,
Gurudaspur, Pb.
Bhopal, MP

14.

Pankel

Bhilwara, Rajasthan

Not alive

15.

D. Dinesh

Hyderabad

Not alive

16.

Darwath Prasad

1.5

Warangal, AP

Not alive

Not alive
Not alive

Not alive
Not alive

Not alive

IBN Live
(30/5/2013)
IBN Live
(28/4/2013)
IBN Live
(8/12/2012)
Zee News
(27/6/2012)
Zee News
(8/12/2011)
Zee News
(4/11/2011)
Zee News
(26/6/2011)
Zee News
(20/3/2011)
The Hindu
(4/6/2010)
NDTV
(29/1/2010)
India Today
(29/1/2010)
Hindustan
Times
(19/1/2010)
NDTV
(18/1/2010)

In table 1, the ratio of dead and alive children is 15:1. This shows that frequency of
those trapped children in bore well has increased who get died in the hole due to insufficient
amount of oxygen or injuries throughout the whole process. The alternative solution to this
problem is the use of robotic systems which can move down the pipe and bring the subjected
body out of it properly and safely. This will take lesser time than the normal operation.
This work is aimed towards the construction and designing of a robotic system to
work in borehole rescue operations and to detect faults inside the pipeline. The robot has the
arm at its front to pick and place the objects. It has camera that is interfaced with MATLAB
for the visual display. The motion of the robot is controlled through a remote (switch pad) and
also the temperature inside the pipe sensed by the robot is monitored outside on the display
device.
The project is intended to reduce the risk involved during the child rescue operation
by analysing the situation and also to provide an option detect any leakage inside the pipe.

ME DEPARTMENT, SRMGPC, LUCKNOW

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DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE

ROBOT

3. LITERATURE SURVEY:The primary use of robots includes searching for

survivors, where unusual viewpoints can be perceived with
better human-robot interaction. Usual method followed by the
rescue team is first to find the depth of the child in the bore
well by using rope. After finding the depth, a parallel pit is
dug using Earthmoving vehicles. This method of rescuing has
following difficulties, It takes up to 30 hours to dig the
parallel pit, by that time the child would have died. Lack of
oxygen inside the bore well. Lack of visualization causes the
major difficulty during the rescue operation There is no such
special equipment for rescuing the child trapped inside the
bore well.

Fig. 2 : Image of a baby fell into borehole and Army

members
working for the
borehole
rescue
Forty five deaths of children have been reported in the
country since September 2009, from that we have only
nineteen with the proof of a newspaper. In the year of 2012
Six year old boy was rescued from the bore well, but later
died in the hospital due to injuries during the rescue
operation and lack of medical aid. Their deaths are caused
due to uncovered dry bore wells.

Fig. 3: Depth of a borehole.

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DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE

ROBOT

4. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:As the project is being inspired to make the robot

which to be used for child rescue operations from the
borehole. When claw or gripper is added to the robot, the
controller is not able to provide the sufficient amount of
current to the multiple gears which affects the operation. So
motor driver section is removed from the robotic structure and
direct supply is given to the gear motors using switch pad as
its control centre enable the robot to work smoothly and
effectively.

5. BLOCK DIAGRAM:-

ME DEPARTMENT, SRMGPC, LUCKNOW

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DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE

ROBOT

5.1. Robot Module:This unit comprises of 12V power supply, switch pad
and gear motors, safety balloon, solenoid valve. The switch
pad has four micro switches connected to the microcontroller
I/O pins. One end of the switch is grounded and the other is
connected to the microcontroller port. When any switch is
pressed that particular port is grounded. The microcontroller
is always monitored these switches, in real time.
5.1.1. DC Motor:A DC motor is used to convert electrical energy to
mechanical energy, very typically through the interaction of
magnetic field and current carrying conductors. The reverse
process producing electrical energy from mechanical energy,
is accomplished by an alternator, generator or dynamo. Many
types of electric motors can be run as generators, and vice
versa. The input of DC motor is current/voltage and its output
is torque (speed). The DC motor has two basic parts the
rotating part that is called the armature and the stationary part
that includes coils of wire called the field coils. The stationary
part is called the stator.

Fig. 4: DC Motor
5.1.2. Solenoid Valve:A solenoid valve is an electromechanical operated
valve. The valve is controlled by an electric current through
a solenoid: in the case of a two-port valve the flow is
switched on or off; in the case of a three-port valve, the

outflow is switched between the two outlet ports. In this

project solenoid valve is used to send an oxygen to the
rescue child
Solenoid valves are the most frequently used control
elements in fluidics. Their tasks are to shut off, release, dose,
distribute or mix fluids. They are found in many application
areas. Solenoids offer fast and safe switching, high reliability,
long service life, good medium compatibility of the materials
used, low control power and compact design.

ME DEPARTMENT, SRMGPC, LUCKNOW

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DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE

ROBOT

5.1.3. Safety Balloon:The safety disc is an air-filled disc that has a unique
dome shaped top. The safety balloon disc is 12 in
maximum diameter. It is init ially in the deflated condition,
fitted with the nozzle. It is inflated, when this safety balloon
is in the right position under the baby. It is used to provide
support for the baby.

Fig. 5: Safety balloon

5.2. CCTV Camera:Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as

video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a
signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It
differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not
openly transmitted, though it may employ point to point
(P2P), point to multipoint, or mesh wireless links. In
industrial plants, CCTV equipment may be used to observe
parts of a process from a central control room, for example
when the environment is not suitable for humans. CCTV
systems may operate continuously or only as required to
monitor a particular event. CCTV camera connected to the TV
tuner. It shows the baby position inside the barrel and display
on the TV.

ME DEPARTMENT, SRMGPC, LUCKNOW

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DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE

ROBOT

5.3. Advanced Digital Oxygen Supply System:The respiration of human beings will difficult, if the
percentage of oxygen in the air becomes less than 18%. So,
we need a device to supply proper oxygen to the baby in the
rescue process. An oxygen concentrator is placed on the
surface of the bore well. It will automatically sense the defect
of oxygen at the rescue region and it supplies the required
oxygen. For this purpose oxygen concentrator, an oxygen tube
of 200meters is placed on the surface. The tube is sent along
with the robot to supply emergency oxygen to baby.

5.4. Relay:A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many

relays use an electromagnet to mechanically operate a switch,
but other operating principles are also used, such as solid-state
relays. Relays are used where it is necessary to control a
circuit by a low-power signal (with complete electrical
isolation between control and controlled circuits), or where
several circuits must be controlled by one signal. The first
relays were used in long distance telegraph circuits as
amplifier. Relays were used extensively in telephone
exchanges and early computers to perform logical operations.
In this project relay is used for controlling the motor, safety
balloon, oxygen supply. Based on ON/OFF state it will work.

5.5. Controller Unit:The

unit

comprises

of

PIC

16F877A

Microcontroller. This is a RISC (Reduced Instruction Set

Computing) based Microcontroller having analog input
channels, analog comparators and additional timer circuits.
The Microcontroller stores the information captured by the
robot and display it. The temperature sensed by the robot is
firstly stored in Microcontroller and then get displayed on the
LCD. The video captured by the CCTV camera is displayed

on a PC using Embedded C. The serial communication

between microcontroller and PC is done through a MAX-232
interface.

5.6 Display Unit:For displaying the information like temperature

and smoke values, LCD (16x2) is used on each line this dot
matrix LCD display module holds 32 characters-16 on each
line and has a green backlight with black text.
ME DEPARTMENT, SRMGPC, LUCKNOW
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DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE

ROBOT

6. METHOD OF RESCUING:The rope is connected to the top of the robot. As the

robot is sent into the bore-well hole, electric wires for the
motor from the control unit chip is attached along the rope.
The oxygen hose is fixed to the upper plate of the robot.
Depending on the robot movement, the hose length is adjusted
from outside the bore-well. The gas hose from the compressor
is connected to the gas box located on the lower plate through
the hole in the upper plate. The gas box act as an intermediate
gas transmitter. Using the motion detector and other special
features of the camera, the baby position is seen through a
computer. At the appropriate position, the fork will punch into
the bore-well wall using the motor connected to the bevel gear
setup on the upper plate. If the baby is trapped in the middle
of bore-well, using the motor connected at the lower end of
the hollow tube, the lower plate is rotated in such a way the
safety balloon gas tube is in the gap between bore-well and
the baby. Initially the gas tube is above the end of robot
hands. It will avoid stabbing of gas tube on the baby. Using
the motor connected to the pinion, the rack is moved lower
than the robot hands. Then the robot is moved down in such a
way that the robot hands free to hold the baby head or middle
of the body. Then the safety balloon is inflated by using the
air compressor through gas box. The air pressure is measured
in analog pressure gauge connected to the compressor. The
Digital display is placed below the upper camera. After the
safety balloon reached the exact pressure, the compressor is
cut off. Then the safety balloon is moved upward using motor
connected to the rack and pinion setup till the safety balloon
completely supports the baby. Now the baby is completely in
robot control. The baby movements see through the lower
camera and other data readings see through upper camera. The
two way audio communication will help us to know the
stipulations of the baby. Then slowly, the baby is moved
upward. by pulling the rope using the pulley control system.

The medical team will be able to prepare for the treatment

depending on the already seen temperature of the baby. When
the robot is pulled out, the rope is cut off. The robot is taken
outside carefully from the stand. The hands are loosened by
the motor control and the baby is taken for treatment.

ME DEPARTMENT, SRMGPC, LUCKNOW

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DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE

ROBOT

Fig. 6: Balloon type Rescue

System.

7. CONCLUSION:Human life is precious. Bore well child server is

a significant attempt to save the life of the victim of bore well
accidents. Besides this the unique capability of climbing
through vertical and inclined pipes makes wide scope of
application for this machine in manufacturing industries and
other relevant fields. In the current design of bore well child
saver machine is has been made to suit every possible
situation may occur in rescuing operation. The structure is
made strong enough to sustain all possible loads, though it is
made flexible at the same time to adjust wider range of bore

diameter and any change in the diameter of bore. In the

rescuing operation time is a vital factor which alone can
determine the success or failure of the whole operation. Thus,
it has been designed keeping the entire

ME DEPARTMENT, SRMGPC, LUCKNOW

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DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE

ROBOT

obstacle in mind that may arise during the operation. We like

to conclude with the help of my research project I am able to
rescue without any damage.

8. FUTURE SCOPE:In future we can use this project in several

applications by adding additional components to this project.
By connecting temperature sensor to the robot we can get the
temperature of dangerous zones in personal computer itself
instead of sending human to there and facing problems at the
field, we can send robots to there and sensor will detect the
temperature and it gives information to the Microcontroller
and microcontroller gives the information to the transceiver
from that we can get the data on the PC side. By connecting
smoke sensor to the robot we can get the information related
concentration of smoke or gases in respective fields i.e (coal
mines, dangerous zones, etc.) Sensor sense the information
and it gives to the microcontroller and its gives to the
transceiver and from that we get the information on personal
computer.

ME DEPARTMENT, SRMGPC, LUCKNOW

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DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF BOREWELL RESCUE

ROBOT

9. REFERENCES:1. B. Bharathi, B. Suchitha Samuel Design and Constru

ction of Rescue Robot and Pipeline Inspection Using
Zigbee International Jou rnal Of Scientific, Engineering
and Research (IJSER) Volume 1 Issue 1, September 2013.
2. Sridhar Palaniswamy Life Saving Machine the firs t
International Conference on Interdisciplinary Research
and Development, 31 May-1 June 2011, Thailand.
3. O. Tatar, D. Mandru, Design of in-pipe modular rob
otic systems, Vol.147-149, pp. 49-54, 2009.
4. Alan Mutka and Zdenko Kovacic A Leg-wheel robot ba
sed approach to the solution of flipper-track robot
kinematics, IEEE Internatio nal Conference on Control
Applications, 28-30 September, 2011, USA.
5. Oxygen concentrator -Direct web search on google.com
6. Safety balloon-Direct web search on google.com
7. Camera - Direct web search on google.com
8. J. Burke and R.R.Murphy, Human-robot interaction i n
USAR technical search: Two heads are better than one,in
Proc.IEEE Int. Worksh op ROMAN, Kurashiki, Japan,
2004, pp. 307-312.
9. J. Casper and R. R. Murphy, Human-robot interactio ns
during the robot assisted urban search and rescue response
at the world trade center, IEEE Trans. Syst., Man,
Cybern. B, Cybern., Vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 367385, Ju n.
2003.
10. R. R. Murphy, Activities of the rescue robots at t he
World Trade Center from 1121 September 2001, in
Proc. IEEE Robot. Autom. Mag., 2004, pp. 5061.

ME DEPARTMENT, SRMGPC, LUCKNOW

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