Cognitive Science 375

The goal of the competition will be to build a robot that can navigate a maze-like environment roughly 8'x8', to find a burning candle and extinguish it.

Requirements:

• The robot's electrical components must not get wet or be damaged.
• The robot should start when it hears a loud noise (such as a clap). Once it has started, it should stop if it hears another loud noise. It should continue to cycle between these two behaviors with this stimulus.
• The LCD screen should display the current state (such as "waiting" when it is waiting for a loud noise to start, "searching" when it is trying to find the fire, and "extinguishing" when it is trying to put out the fire.
• The robot should beep once when it has found the fire.
• The robot should beep twice when it has extinguished the fire, and should then go into the "waiting" state. At this point, another loud noise should set it searching for another fire.

Points will be awarded as follows:

0-10:	Maze distance from closest point to fire, computed as follows: (30-distance) / 3, where distance is in feet. Full points will be awarded if the fire is found (i.e. you don't need to get within one foot).
20:	Find the fire.
0-10:	Time (from start) to find the fire (10 points for fastest time, 8 points for second, etc.). No points if the fire is not found.
50:	Extinguish the fire.
0-10:	Time (from start) to extinguish the fire (10 points for fastest time, 8 points for second, etc.). No points if the fire is not extinguished.

Points will be deducted as follows:

50:	The electronic components get wet or are damaged
10:	The robot beeps for finding a fire and hasn't
10:	The robot does not beep for finding a fire and has
10:	The robot beeps for extinguishing the fire and hasn't
10:	The robot does not beep for extinguishing the fire and has