To build the fastest autonomous robot that will locate a fire (candlelight) and
extinguish it while
following an unknown arbitrary path (made of white
bookshelves and black line on the surface), detect the end of the path, and
return back to home.
Game Rules
This game is based on RoboRace, but
the firefighter robot must extinguish the candle light by using a only
motorized fan.
There is only one starting position for the Firefighter Race, but there are
six possible
locations for a candlelight. For each game,
the location of the candlelight is decided by a die.
The robot should not touch or push down the candle which is placed outside
the bookshelf. See Figure 2.
How are winners chosen? First, the robot must find and extinguish the candle light.
Secondly, the winner is chosen by the time of completion, which means returning
back to the starting position (fire station).
Rules for just Senior Division: Light intensity in the gym may be varying
during the game. Your robot should be adaptable.
Tie breaking rule: (1st) the number of input sensors used; the smaller,
the better.
(2nd) re-run.
Constructing and Programming
Size of the robot
Length: Less than 11 inches including any extensions such as antennae,
bumpers, etc.
Width: Less than 10 inches. Note that the width of the bookshelf is 10".
Height: no restriction.
Weight: no restriction.
The robot may use any number of any Lego sensors/pieces. Note that you will need
an extra motor for the fan. You may order a motor by visiting the
LegoMindStorm website,
or you may buy a RoboSports extension kit with an extra motor
from local stores for Lego MindStorms. However, you may use any extra motors.
Robots may be programmed using any of the
programming environments available such as Lego
MindStorms TM RIS RCX code programming (1.0 or 1.5),
NQC, Visual Basic with OCX, or LegOS/C.
How to make a motorized fan? Use a fan with three wings for toy planes
which you can buy from
Hobby Centers such as Joe's in Dearborn (313-933-6567),
Eastpointe (810-773-8294),
Farmington (248-477-6266), or Rochester (248-651-8842). Here is a
video clip file (mpeg, 120KB) for a firefighting
demonstration.
(Fig. 1) An expample of a fan
Constructing Playing Field
Exactly the same playing field as Robo Race is used.
A referee will place a candleholder
one inch outside of the bookshelf at a curve
as shown in Figure 2.
A jumbo birthday candle of 3.25" high will be used.
The location of the candle holder will be dependent on the direction of the robot.
Figure 3 shows the location of the candleholder, when the robot turns clockwise.
Figure 4 shows the location of the candleholder,
when the robot turns counterclockwise.
(Fig. 2) A candle holder and its location
(Fig. 3) The location of the candleholder at a clockwise corner
(Fig. 4) The location of the candleholder at a counterclockwise corner
Acknowledgement
The Robo Firefighter Race was
created by Dr. Chan-Jin Chung at Lawrence Technological University in
December, 1999.
You may use the same game rules for your events, but acknowledgement
to the inventor of the game is requested. A similar Firefighting robot contest
using a maze
was started by Jake Mendelssohn at Trinity College.
For more information, please visit
www.trincoll.edu/~robot.