Robot soccer

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Robot soccer is the implementation of the team game soccer for mobile robots .

International competitions in robot soccer are the RoboCup, the World Championship organized by the Federation of International Robot Soccer Association (FIRA) or the Football Category of the World Robot Olympiad . RoboCup's long-term goal is to beat the human world champion in an ordinary football game by 2050.

Nao team from the HTWK Leipzig
Aibos at the RoboCup 2005

Standard artificial intelligence problem

In 1950, the American computer scientist Claude E. Shannon proposed programming a machine that could beat a person in chess (Programming a Computer for Playing Chess; Philosophical Magazine). However, Konrad Zuse had already written the world's first chess program several years earlier (1942–45) in the first higher programming language Plankalkül , which he himself had developed .

This idea preoccupied scientists all over the world in the following years. In artificial intelligence (AI), game theory emerged with powerful learning strategies and search methods . With the victory of Deep Blue , a supercomputer developed by IBM , against the reigning world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1996, computer chess as a research field of artificial intelligence reached its climax.

However, the AI ​​researchers already agreed that computer chess was not a real touchstone for the performance of machine intelligence, even if it had spurred developments in the field of artificial intelligence for years.

The approach of a computer to the game of chess (huge computing effort in huge databases) in no way corresponds to that of a human and cannot be compared with true (human) intelligence . The deterministic nature of the game of chess, by which one can, at least in theory, predict every move, does not require any real intelligence. Rather, these days Go is seen as a better touchstone.

So in 1995 the soccer game came on the agenda as the standard problem for artificial intelligence to take into account the latest developments in artificial intelligence, in which robotics became more central. Since it was recognized that intelligence requires a body and perception, autonomous robots should compete against each other.

The "problem" soccer game requires acting in a real environment, whereby completely different aspects of intelligence than in computer chess come to the fore. A soccer robot has to find its way in a dynamic world, act in real time on the basis of incomplete information and react to unforeseen events.

The most successful solutions of artificial intelligence should prevail through " natural selection " in the context of soccer tournaments.

Robot soccer requires:

The aim of the initiators of the RoboCup is to defeat the reigning soccer world champion by 2050. This period of time corresponds roughly to that between the task of the computer chess and the victory of Deep Blue against Garry Kasparov.

World Robot Olympiad - Football Category

Main article see: World Robot Olympiad

The WRO Football Category pitch in 2015

The World Robot Olympiad (WRO) is an international competition in which the Lego Mindstorms system serves as the basis. The WRO takes place in several categories and age groups, each with different tasks. One of the categories is the Football Category:

In the Football Category, the youngsters build and program two robots exclusively from LEGO materials. These robots may each be a maximum of 22 cm high and a diameter of 22 cm (measured with a cylinder). The robots use compass sensors to orient themselves on the playing field and use infrared sensors to detect the infrared cue ball. A special feature in this category is the two-hour construction phase: the teams are allowed to build and test the robots before the competition, but on the day of the competition both robots have to be reassembled from individual parts. After the construction phase, further testing is possible at any time, provided practice tables are free.

RoboCup

Main article see: RoboCup

RoboCup World Championships take place annually in different countries, with tournaments like the RoboCup German Open taking place at national level . There is the Major League, in the university teams, and the RoboCup Junior, in which students up to 19 years take part. In both competitions there will be competitions in robot soccer, with rescue and household robots.

Federation of International Robot-soccer Association (FIRA)

The Federation of International Robot-soccer Association (FIRA) was founded on June 5, 1997 in Daejeon (South Korea). It organizes annually robot soccer world championships (FIRA RoboWorld Cup) as well as local championships (European Championships, ChinaCup, KoreaCup, South America Cup etc.).

World Championship

The FIRA robot soccer world championships are held annually at different locations, accompanied by a scientific congress (FIRA RoboWorld Congress). In 2006 the World Cup took place parallel to the Soccer World Cup in Dortmund. The 2007 World Cup was held in San Francisco , parallel to the annual “Robolympics” event. The 2008 World Cup is then - at the same time as the Summer Olympics  - in Qingdao / China .

World Championship venues

year country place
1996 South Korea Daejeon
1997 South Korea Daejeon
1998 France Paris
1999 Brazil Campinas
2000 Australia Rockhampton
2001 China Beijing
2002 South Korea Busan , Daegu , Daejeon, Gwangju, Suwon, Seoul
2003 Austria Vienna
2004 South Korea Busan
2005 Singapore Singapore
2006 Germany Dortmund
2007 United States San Francisco
2008 China Qingdao
2009 South Korea Incheon
2010 India Bangalore
2011 Taiwan Kaohsiung
2012 United Kingdom Bristol
2013 Malaysia Shah Alam
2014 China Beijing
2015 South Korea Daejeon
2016 China Beijing
2017 Taiwan Kaohsiung
2018 Taiwan Taichung

Divisions in the FIRA

MiroSot
The robots are cubes with a maximum edge length of 7.5 cm, two or four wheels, two electric motors and a radio receiver including antenna. An orange golf ball serves as the ball. A camera mounted above the playing field transmits the current game situation to a host computer. This in turn controls the robots using radio signals.
Depending on the subclass, 5 (MiroSot Middle League) or 11 (MiroSot Large League) robots per team are played. The corresponding playing field sizes are 220 × 180 cm and 400 × 280 cm.
NaroSot
The robots are 4 × 4 × 5.5 cm in size. An orange table tennis ball serves as the ball. The game structure (central camera, external host computer, radio transmission) is the same as that of the MiroSot class.
The playing field has a size of 130 × 90 cm.
RoboSot
The robots are a maximum of 20 × 20 cm (no height restriction). A team can consist of one to three robots. The robots can work fully or partially autonomously (an additional host computer can be used to process the image information). A yellow tennis ball serves as the ball.
The playing field has a size of 220 × 180 cm.
KheperaSot
The robots may have a maximum diameter of 6 cm and are of the Khepera type. You have to act completely autonomously. One against one. A white or yellow tennis ball serves as the ball.
The playing field is 105 × 68 cm.
HuroSot
The robots have to move on two legs and are divided into three classes:
  • Small (max. 50 cm high, 5 robots per team),
  • Medium (max. 80 cm, 3 robots per team),
  • Large (max. 150 cm, 3 robots per team).
A yellow tennis ball is used for the small league and an orange youth football (size 3) for medium and large.
The size of the playing field is between 340 × 250 cm and 430 × 350 cm, depending on the class.
In addition to the actual competition (soccer), there are four other tasks (running forwards / backwards, free kick, obstacle course, picking up and carrying).
SimuroSot
Simulation league. There are two sub-classes with 5 and 11 robots per team
see also: MiroSot Middle League and MiroSot Large League.

Web links

Commons : RoboCup  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhard Gerndt, Daniel Seifert, Jacky Hansjoerg Baltes, Soroush Sadeghnejad, Sven Behnke: Humanoid Robots in Soccer: Robots Versus Humans in RoboCup 2050 . In: Robotics & Automation Magazine . tape 22 , no. 3 . IEEE, 2015, ISSN  1070-9932 , pp. 147–154 , doi : 10.1109 / MRA.2015.2448811 ( ieee.org [accessed September 17, 2019]).
  2. ↑ rcj-orga.robocupgermanopen.de ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / rcj-orga.robocupgermanopen.de
  3. ↑ robocup.org
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v http://www.firaworldcup.org/VisitorPages/show.aspx?IsDetailList=true&ItemID=4405,1
  5. ↑ http://www.firaworldcup.org/VisitorPages/show.aspx?IsDetailList=true&ItemID=4468,1