For Immediate Release
Trinity College Gearing Up For 7th Annual Fire-Fighting Robot Contest
HARTFORD, Conn., Feb. 21 -- Since its inception seven years ago, the Trinity College Home Fire-Fighting Robot Contest has always aimed to bring together scientists of varying ages and experience levels for a common cause. This year, the contest will accomplish that and more, as students from Israel and Palestine travel to Trinity as one team to compete in the contest.
"The fire-fighting contest at Trinity has become a tremendous success in part because it is an activity that provides a focus for the development of a wide variety of skills," said Trinity College President Evan S. Dobelle. "We are looking forward to another opportunity to bring together people from all over the world and provide a forum in which they may learn from one another."
To be held this year on Saturday, April 15, and Sunday, April 16, the Trinity College Fire-Fighting Home Robot Contest is the largest, public, true robotics competition held in the U.S. that is open to entrants of any age, ability, or experience. Contestants range from students at elementary schools, high schools and colleges to rocket scientists, all of whom participate in a weekend of robotics seminars and a robot fair. More than 100 entries are expected for this year's contest, which will once again be sponsored by Motorola.
The challenge of the contest is to build a computerized robotic device that can maneuver on its own through a model of an 8'x8' house, detect fire (in the form of a lit candle), and extinguish it. The robot that accomplishes the task in the shortest amount of time wins. The contest is designed to advance technology, provide a practical application for robots, and create an opportunity for students to work as a team.
The contest promotes the development of a fire-fighting robot because putting out a fire is a concept that is a universal concern, according to David J. Ahlgren, a Trinity professor of engineering who helped found the contest. Additionally, fire-fighting has all the elements required for a good contest -- it is an activity that has movement, action, and suspense, and it's a concept that is intriguing to both layman and expert.
During a visit to the Middle East last year, Jake Mendelssohn, an adjunct assistant professor of engineering at Trinity and the contest's principal organizer, met with officials from Israel and Palestine. As a result of that meeting and recognition of the contest's past success, Israel will host a regional robot contest in that country two weeks before the Trinity competition. Teams who participate successfully in the regional contest will compete in Trinity's contest. Among those teams will be a group of Palestinian and Israeli students.
Although the Trinity competition is called a home robot contest, the first practical applications for such technology will likely be in warehouses and, consequently, will be of greatest benefit to companies, Mendelssohn says. After a few years of running successfully in warehouses, this technology could then move into a more complicated office building setting. Ultimately, experts hope the technology will be efficient enough, effective enough and affordable enough to move into the home.
For more information about the contest or to submit an entry, visit the contest website at http://www.trincoll.edu/~robot.
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Media Contact: Andrea Comer, Trinity College Public Relations, (860) 297-4285, or [email protected]
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