Hizook

UPDATE: I've got a bunch of new pictures and videos from RoboCup 2007 posted. 

I was really bummed this summer when I missed the RoboGames. However, I consciously made the decision not to go since the RoboCup 2007 is in Atlanta this year, and is being held at my graduate school -- Georgia Tech! Because of this, I will be volunteering for several of the days, and I get up-close contact with the robot-builders, spectators, and event organizers.

Anyone with a Georgia Tech ID can get a spectator seat for free. If you're not so privileged, tickets can be had for like $10 (weekdays) or $20 (weekends). There are a TON of events this year (Small, Mid, and Junior soccer, Humanoid Soccer, 4-Legged Soccer, Nanogram, etc). It is being held across about 4 different venues (Campus Rec Center, Tech Square Research Building, Student Center, and Fox Theater), so there is plenty to watch. It is difficult to describe how large this event is, and how wonderful the caliber of robot-builders is (especially compared to other events I've attended, even compared to RoboGames). Just look at these shots of the "main" venue (Campus Rec Center).

From the front of the spectator area:

From the back of the spectator area:

There is literally always something cool going on, and the robot-builders are very friendly (from many different countries). For traditional roboticists, this is like heaven. I still miss some aspects of the RoboGames (like mini-Sumo); however, I don't really miss the BattleBots. The glorified RC cars usually don't appeal to traditional roboticists, but I'm sure that many enthusiasts would be disappointed by their absence.

Official competition just began today (Tuesday, July 3rd), but the event continues up through July 10th. I haven't seen any coverage on other blogs about RoboCup 2007, so I figured I'd share a selection of my pictures and videos (from team practice day -- yesterday on July 2nd).

This is a Junior Soccer League robot from Team Takahama. I had a chance to speak with this team at length, and I found their robot rather interesting. It uses 3 holonomic wheels for propulsion (like most of the robot soccer bots), it has a few wheels near the front that spin the ball to "hold" on to it. Then, it can shoot the ball using a little flipper on the front. I have a few videos of it in action here and here.

I personally favor the Junior Soccer League robots. A team for the Junior Soccer League only consists of two, small robots instead of the 4+ of other events. Also, the ball contains a number of infrared emitters, which makes detection simple as well. These factors make the Junior League much less costly, and thus more accessible to hobbyists. Many of the other events require large capital investments or sponsorship (to purchase 4-5 Aibos, or 4-5 laptops, etc).

Below is another Junior Soccer League robot, which uses compressed air to shoot the ball. Again, it employs holonomic wheels.

Below is an image of the Small Size League arena. You can see the cameras suspended above the arena. These are hooked to computers that perform visual recognition, tracking, and control of the robots to play soccer. This league focuses on multi-agent robotic cooperation and strategy.

I'm actually not a huge fan of the Small-Size league, mostly due to the external infrastructure and centralized control. Usually these robots do not use holonomic wheels, but rather use differential drive for speed and agility.

This is an image of a single robot from a Middle-Size League team. Notice the omnidirectional camera on the top. This is used in visual recognition algorithms to detect and track the ball. You can also see (under the number) a small laptop that controls this robot. Since each team is comprised of 4-5 robots, this can be quite expensive. Again, this robot uses holonomic wheels. The robots in this league are entirely autonomous, although the robots on each team are allowed to communicate wirelessly. They are pretty awesome. Check out the other pictures from this league below.

I also have a number of videos from the Middle-Size League robots practicing. Check them out here, here, and here.

Many people are enamored with the humanoid soccer. The humanoids' complexity is impressive, but their movements are still rather slow and cumbersome. Check out some of these videos for proof: vision tracking and goal.

There are still a number of events I have not explored. One event is the 4-legged soccer, which usually features teams of Sony Aibos playing soccer. Another event that I'm really looking forward to (since it is related to my research interests) is the Nanogram league. From the RoboCup website (including the image below),

The RoboCup Nanogram competition challenges teams of students and researchers to construct microscopic robots that will compete against each other in soccer-related agility drills. These robots will measure a few tens of micrometers to a few hundred micrometers in their largest dimension and will have masses ranging from a few nanograms to a few hundred nanograms.

The competitions over the next week are going to be really great. Hopefully I'll find time to share more of my pictures and videos, and hopefully I'll see you there!

I've kept local copies of the videos for posterity; however, I'd prefer if you'd view the YouTube videos listed above. The local copies can be found here:

• Team Takahama 1
• Team Takahama 2
• Middle-Size League Warmup Shot 1
• Middle-Size League Warmup Shot 2
• Middle-Size League Warmup Shot 3
• Humanoid Vision Tracking
• Humanoid Goal