Number of Teams Registered for Robot Competition Surpasses Century Mark
HARTFORD, Conn. – Over 100 teams from six countries, 13 states, and cities and towns across Connecticut will participate in Trinity College’s 16th annual Fire Fighting Home Robot Competition, a contest that is one of the most challenging events of its kind.
In a slight departure from past practice, there will be two distinct events this year: RoboWaiter, which will take place on April 4 and is co-sponsored by The Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities, and the more traditional fire fighting competition that will occur on April 5.
As a testament to the popularity of the competition, almost as many teams have registered to participate this year as did in 2008, despite the severity of the global economic downturn. For the first time, teams from Indonesia and Portugal will journey to Hartford, joining returnees from Canada, China and Israel. And, of course, the United States will be well represented, with robotics aficionados coming to Trinity from as far away as Florida and South Dakota.
The competition will shift into high gear on April 4 at 2 p.m., when the RoboWaiter competition gets underway. So far, nearly a dozen teams have registered for the event in the Oosting Gym where an autonomous computer-controlled robot will be required to navigate a model of a kitchen. The goal is to have the robot find and carry a plate of food from a refrigerator to a table where a disabled person, as represented by a doll, will be sitting in a wheelchair.
The simulated kitchen will include a second chair, a sink, a table, and a shelf that represents the refrigerator shelf. To make it even more challenging for the robot, the arena will include a second doll standing at an arbitrary location. To see an image of the competition layout, visit: /events/robot/arena_images09/2_CCDD09ArenaRev2.jpg.
Admission is free for the RoboWaiter contest. Cash prizes will be given to the top three finishers, as well as the most successful Connecticut team. The competition will conclude at 5 p.m.
The second event will occur on April 5 and will be nearly identical to the classic House on Fire competition, which is believed to be among the longest-running and most popular robot contests anywhere. Admission is free for students and $5 for adults.
Depending on the age of the contestants, the teams will be grouped accordingly: the Junior Division, the High School Division, and the Senior/Expert Division. The Walking Division is reserved for those robots that qualify as the most inventive and creative. A total of five robots from any one college, university, corporation, or program are allowed.
The House on Fire event will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Oosting Gym, although the Senior/Expert Division will be held on the south side of the gym in the parking area. The opening ceremony will get underway at 11 a.m. One key change this year is that the qualifying rounds have been eliminated.
During the competition, the autonomous computer-controlled robot must respond to a fire alarm, discover the blaze, and extinguish it in the shortest possible time. To accomplish that task, the robot must navigate a maze that resembles a typical house, locate the fire (a burning candle), put it out by squirting water at it, and optionally return to the starting point. Contestants may not use joysticks or remote controls.
Each robot gets three tries. The team having a robot that can complete the task in the fastest time and has the most successful runs will be declared the winner. Cash prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place finishes. To earn a cash award, a robot must complete at least two successful runs. The awards ceremony will take place between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The lead sponsor of the two-day event is Versa Products Company, Inc. of New Jersey, which produces directional control valves. The company’s president and CEO is Jan Larsson, a 1977 Trinity graduate, who was motivated to sponsor the competition to interest students in engineering education and robotics, and expand the reach of this unique international event. Her company also is providing a Versa Valves Challenge Award to recognize the entry in each division that shows the greatest ingenuity and creativity using a Versa Valve, which the company is making available free of charge to each team.
In addition to sponsoring the robot contest, Versa Products Company is supporting for a second year the Versa Valves Engineering Internship Program in which two Trinity students will serve as mentors working with as many as 120 Hartford middle school students attending Trinity’s Dream Camp during the summer of 2009. The Trinity students will work with the Hartford students to introduce basic principles of robotics, engineering, and computer science, and prepare the students to enter the competition in the spring of 2010.
Other sponsors include Grandar China, the International Association of Arson Investigators, SolidWorks, Circuit Cellar, Mind Sensors, Scientific American, and Parallax, Inc.
For more information about the Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest, visit: /events/robot/ or contact Event Coordinator Jessica Studinski at: Jessica.studinski@trincoll.edu; Contest Director David Ahlgren, Karl W. Hallden Professor of Engineering, at: david.ahlgren@trincoll.edu; or Chief Judge Chris Wynschenk at: cwynschenk@yahoo.com.