110 Teams from Around the World to Participate
HARTFORD, CT - Nearly 110 teams of robot enthusiasts from around the world will take part in Trinity College’s 15th annual Fire Fighting Home Robot
Contest to be held April 12 and 13 on the College campus. The event is among the largest international events of its kind and will include contestants from Canada, China, Israel, and the United States.
Communities from throughout Connecticut will be represented, among them
Avon, Hartford, Pomfret, Rocky Hill, Wallingford, Weston, and Windsor. There also will be teams representing about two dozen U.S. colleges and
universities.
The teams will qualify in one of five categories: the junior division
featuring middle-school students; the high school division; a senior
division made up of college students; walking (for robots that use only legs
to move); and the expert division, which is open to any team regardless of
the contestants’ ages or affiliations.
The two-day event will kick off Saturday with pre-qualifying rounds, a
symposium and poster session. The main competition will take place on Sunday when the teams, representing the five levels of expertise, compete in two separate contests. The first will feature autonomous computer-controlled robots that will navigate through a maze resembling the floor plan of a house, locate a burning candle, and extinguish the flame in the shortest amount of time.
Contestants may not use joysticks or remote controls. The robot in each
division that completes the challenge in the fastest time will be declared
the winner. Additional points will be added or deducted as a result of the
effectiveness with which their robot performs the task.
Cash prizes will be awarded for first, second, and third place. A trophy
will be given to the victorious team in each division and medallions will be
awarded to members of the top three teams.
In addition, Versa Products Inc., of New Jersey, the lead sponsor, has
provided a free valve to every team. The team in each category that achieves the highest score while using a Versa Valve will receive a $500 cash prize.
The company’s president and CEO is Jan Larsson, a 1977 Trinity graduate.
Larsson is not only a Trinity alumna, but she is a former student of David
Ahlgren, the contest director and Karl W. Hallden Professor of Engineering
at Trinity. Larsson is expected to be on hand during Sunday’s events.
The second competition, begun last year, will feature robots that are
capable of locating a child, who is presumably disabled, panic-stricken, and
unable to find his or her way out of the burning house. The contest, called
“Robot Hide and Seek,” is sponsored by The Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities. Cash prizes and medallions will be given to the
top three teams.
That’s not all, however. The Cost Effective Challenge, which features
robots that complete the challenge with the best score and lowest design
cost, will offer cash prizes to the two most exemplary models. And one
robot will be selected as the most inventive and creative design concept.
In partnership with the Israel Institute of Technology, Trinity has created
the first and only Olympiad Exam administered at a public robotics
competition. Contestants will complete the one-hour exam working
independently or with their colleagues. Prizes will be awarded.
At the conclusion of the event, the best overall robot in the entire
competition will be declared the World Champion, and will receive a trophy
and certificate of achievement.
On Saturday, the Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities is
sponsoring the presentation, “Interactive Robotics for Health Care and
Assistive Technologies,” by Francois Michaud of the University of
Sherbrooke, Quebec.
The other symposium speakers will be Paul Oh from Drexel University, who
will present his work with the indoor aerial robotics competition, and
Jenelle Piepmeier from the U.S. Naval Academy, who will talk about
nanorobots.
The full schedule of events and other details can be found at
www.trincoll.edu/events/robot. Directions to the College can be found at
www.trincoll.edu/AboutTrinity/VisitingTrinity/DirectionsToTrinity.htm. All events are open to the public.
Founded in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1823, Trinity College
(www.trincoll.edu) is an independent, nonsectarian liberal arts college with
over 2,200 students from 43 states and 30 countries. It is home to the
eighth-oldest chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in the United States. The faculty
and alumni include recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, the MacArthur award,
Guggenheims, Rockefellers and other national academic awards. Trinity
students integrate meaningful academic and leadership experience at all
levels on the College’s celebrated campus, in the capital city of Hartford,
and in communities all over the world.