Trinity College Fire-Fighting and RoboWaiter Contests

One of the world's best known and long-lived international robot competitions, the low-cost annual Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest (TCFFHRC) will bring robot enthusiasts and engineers of all ages to Trinity’s campus in Hartford on the weekend of March 31-April 1, 2012. More than 120 teams, including several from international countries of China, Israel and Indonesia, are expected to participate in one of the contest’s divisions (Junior, Walking, High School, Senior, and Expert).

The TCFFHRC challenge is to build a fully autonomous robot that can 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. The RoboWaiter contest challenges teams to design autonomous service robots to aid individuals with mobility impairment. RoboWaiter is unique because it relies on real people with disabilities in its planning and execution. Visit www.trincoll.edu/events/robot to view contest rules.

According to Dr. David Ahlgren, contest director and Professor of Engineering at Trinity College, these events encourage imagination and creativity among inventors of all ages and levels of skill, from elementary school children through retired engineers. "The contest serves as a laboratory for invention and innovation and a focal point for science and engineering education. What is really wonderful and exciting about the contest is to see the robots in action and to feel the enthusiasm of the participants and the spectators," says Dr. Ahlgren.