Our own Theseus is no less of a hero; he is a robot who can navigate his way through a small maze. He was designed to compete in the 14th Annual Fire-Fighting Robot Contest at Trinity College in Connecticut, where he and other small robots will compete to put out a candle in a maze in the shortest amount of time. Having the entire fire-fighting program in time for the end of a three-week-long class was too ambitious, so the Theseus shown at the Robotic Design Exhibition in January was only implemented to navigate through a maze. He was a success nonetheless, finding the "Minotaur" set down by spectators in one of the four rooms in the "Labyrinth".
Theseus runs on one power-starved HandyBoard, two motors, and six sensors. He uses four proximity, or "bathroom", sensors to sense the walls around him and keep him from bumping into them or getting stuck. His two light sensors allow him to determine whether or not he's in a room, as well as whether he's reached his target. The Minotaur, drawn on white paper, contrasts with the dark floor of the maze to allow Theseus to tell when he's found his target. He can tell the difference between entering a new room (marked by a white stripe) and finding the Minotaur by the direction he is traveling (if he's turning, he must be entering a room).
Theseus was created by Ayla Solomon (Computer Science, Class of 2009), Sarah Shiplett (Physics, Class of 2009), and Cidney Hamilton (Computer Science, Class of 2009). All three of us had had a fair amount of background in science and programming, and all of us were extremely ambitious.
