Annual fire-fighting robot contest by Trinity College, Hartford.

The Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest (TCFFHRC) is an annual robotics competition held at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, that challenges high school and college teams to build autonomous robots to locate and extinguish a candle within a complex, multi-room arena. The contest, which began in 1995, is the largest of its kind in the U.S. and focuses on interdisciplinary engineering design, with teams designing, building, and programming robots to navigate the maze-like environment and successfully put out the flame within a five-minute time limit. 

Key Aspects of the Competition

• Objective:Robots must navigate through various rooms, find a candle flame, and then extinguish it. 
• Arena:The contest features a maze-like arena with randomly positioned room doors for some divisions, adding to the challenge. 
• Robots:Teams build autonomous robots capable of sensing the flame, extinguishing it using a mechanism like a CO2 extinguisher, and then returning to a designated starting point. 
• Educational Value:The competition promotes learning in areas such as digital electronics, programming, robotics, and interdisciplinary engineering. 
• Global Participation:High schools and colleges from around the world participate in the event. 
• Prizes:Cash prizes are often awarded to the winning teams.