created 2025-14-02, & modified, =this.modified
The micromouse competition is a an event where participants craft small autonomous electronic mice to solve a 16x16 grid maze.
In 1977 IEEE Spectrum introduced the concept of the micromouse and two years later the first competition was held. The winner at this time is described as a high speed, dumb wall follower.
The modern format involves a run where the the mouse must reach the goal unaided. It keeps track of the walls and where it is, and detects reaching the goal. Then they attempt to reach the optimal route in the quickest time.
Recent advancements are equipping the mice with a fan to “produce a partial vacuum under the mouse while it is running.” Straight line accelerations can exceed 2.5g.
They have typically used traditional maze solving algorithms to compete, such as Dijkstra’s, A*, and various graph or tree traversal algorithms.