Hydro Fire Hornet

Lucas
Age 9
Sunderland, UK

The Hydro Fire Hornet is a drone that carries water to the top of tall buildings if there is fire. Lucas wanted to help fire fighters stay safe, protect people in tall buildings and to help avoid future tragedies like the Australian bush fires and the Grenfell Tower that Lucas saw on the news.

Image
Hydro Fire Hornet

Keep scrolling to see the story of this amazing invention!

Video URL
The Inventor
Lucas
Sunderland, UK
Andy Smithson
Electronics Engineer
Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, UK
The Maker

Invention Story

The Idea!

"My invention will stop tragedies like the Grenfell Tower from happening again. The Hydro Fire Hornet is a battery powered drone which can carry water high into the sky to put out fires in building which firemen cannot reach. The batteries are charged with hydro power, that water is then re-used to put out the flames. The final benefit of this invention is that firefighters do no have to put themselves in danger to save others as the Hydro Fire Hornet is remotely controlled."

Lucas

 

At the first Pioneer session at Preston Park Museum, Lucas got to meet his fellow Pioneers and the Little Inventors team. He explored Preston Park Museum and worked on developing his idea further.

Lucas showed how thoughtful he is as he developed his idea further, thinking about ways to improve it and drawing a comic strip to show it in action

Electronics engineer met Lucas and his teacher over a video call and Andy talked through how they were making the drone at Teesside Hackspace. 

Andy worked on the drone with fellow maker Chris Corbett.

The Maker said...

I was attracted to this project as I have built drones before, but never mixed drones with fire. It is a great idea, the drone we built for the project was fully functional and we were able to demonstrate it by putting out a fire. Whilst a larger fire would require more water it would be relatively simple to scale up.

The Maker said...

The use of CAD was a great tool for the project, it meant we could be sure all the parts would fit together before we made it and meant assembly went smoothly.

The Maker said...

The use of 3D printing was a tremendous help for the project, 3D printing meant we could turn the computer drawing into a real functional part in just a few clicks. Although the Hackspace was closed for the pandemic, Chris has 3D printers at home so we were still able to produce the drone parts.

The Maker said...

We made a fire engine and building following the style of some of Lucas' drawings to keep things as close to his invention as possible. A highlight of the project was seeing the water squirt form the flying drone directly onto the burning building model.

Video URL
The Maker said...

Chris has made this short film to show how the Hydro Fire Hornet was brought to life.

Lucas's invention demonstrated brilliantly how caring and thoughtful he is. There is no doubt that he will bring this wonderful kind spirit to his next inventions and we can't wait to see them.

The final creation! This was a fantastic collaboration between Lucas and Teeside Hackspace's Andy and Chris. A great idea by Lucas made real by skilled makers.