Japanese researchers developed a robot made of a hose that can spray water. The 'snake robot' can crawl through windows or other gaps in a structure.

A fire truck costs something in the region of $800,000. If a fire department wanted to buy a Bulldog and two robots, a Thermite and a Guardian, say, it would cost about $400,000.

And yet there they were Sunday, cheering as a robot they built maneuvered its way around a simple, white maze. Cory, 11, was at Trinity College for its Fire-Fighting Robot Contest, an annual event ...