A few weeks ago, SHARC, FRR, and Club Workshop here in Denver put on a mini Maker Faire, robot Expo, and attempted a firefighting competition.
Some really cool things like Roomba commanded by patterned flash cards, a butler robot with obstacle avoidance and voice recognition, RC tank, air canon powered by stationary bike, cellphone controlled robots, and loads more. Really a great time! Teaser pic:
Here’s some more pics and write up on my blog http://bot-thoughts.blogspot.com/2010/07/firefighting-robot-expo-maker-faire.html
The firefighting didn’t quite happen; only two robots were functional in any sense… and only mine (Pokey) was able to demo (albeit with remote control) finding the candle flame… it couldn’t put it out because I goofed up my fan motor driver circuit design.