Call for Participation

Call for Participation

RoboCup 2014 Humanoid League

July 19-25th, 2014 (João Pessoa, Brazil)

http://www.robocup2014.org/

The RoboCup humanoid league is inviting interested teams to apply for participation at the RoboCup 2014 competition in João Pessoa, Brazil. The humanoid league will host competitions in three classes:

  • KidSize: 40 – 90cm robot height (ball size 10cm diameter)
  • TeenSize: 80 – 140cm robot height
  • AdultSize: 130 – 180cm robot height (minimum weight 10kg)

For more detailed class definitions and more information about the humanoid league, please refer to the humanoid league home page at http://www.tzi.de/humanoid and join the humanoid league mailing list at https://lists.cc.gatech.edu/mailman/listinfo/robocup-humanoid

Due to restrictions on the number of teams able to participate at RoboCup 2014, all teams must provide the qualification material described below. The technical committee will evaluate the qualification material and select the best teams.

  1. Team Data
    • Team name
    • URL of the team’s home page
    • Name of team leader or team contact person
    • E-mail address of team leader or contact person
    • Postal address of the team, team leader or contact person
    • Competition class: kid or teen or adult size

    Please note that teams applying for participation in several classes must submit individual application material for each class and pay the appropriate registration fee for each class. Furthermore, teams in different classes must be able to compete independently and at the same time.

  2. Robot Video
    The first part of the qualification material is a video of your robot demonstrating your team’s autonomous soccer playing skills.
    The minimum standard for qualification is:

    • localization of unknown ball position,
    • walking ability towards the ball,
    • robot positioning at the ball for kicking,
    • kicking the ball towards the goal,
    • ability of getting up autonomously from a fall (Kid Size)

    However, more complex and intelligent behavior of teams of robots demonstrating localization and team play are preferred, particularly recordings from actual soccer matches.
    The qualification video must be supplied as a link to it via www.youtube.com. The maximum duration of the video is 5 minutes. The qualifying team is responsible to ensure that the video adheres to YouTube’s TOS (especially in regards to music copyright) to prevent the video from being blocked for the reviewers. Videos not viewable by the reviewers may lead to a team not being qualified.
    No video means no qualification!

  3. Team Description Paper
    A team description paper (TDP) must be submitted which

    • includes a statement committing to participate in the RoboCup 2014 Humanoid League competition,
    • includes a statement committing to making a person with sufficient knowledge of the rules available as referee during the competition,
    • fully describes the scientific aspects of your humanoid robot system and your research interests,
    • includes a summary of previous relevant achievements in research and development as well as publications,
    • mentions prior performance in RoboCup competitions
    • points out enhancements of the robots’ hardware or software compared to the previous year
    • states explicitly whether software from other teams is used and if yes, which parts are used and what the team’s own contributions are

    The TDP is limited to 8 pages maximum and must be submitted in PDF format. Resubmitting of last year’s TDP will prevent qualification.
    The TDP must follow the LNCS format which can be downloaded from http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0
    The quality of the TDP and the robot video will be decisive for qualification.
    Other evaluation criteria include contributions to the RoboCup community by release of significant papers or software.
    New teams and teams from countries that have not previously taken part in RoboCup competitions may be given priority.
    Teams are encouraged to consider joint participation. Joint proposals will be judged on combined merit.
    The TC may include the fulfillment of the statement of commitment of participation as well as the performance of the team’s referee in previous RoboCup competitions into consideration for qualification.

  4. Robot Specification
    A one-page specification (PDF) for each different type of humanoid robot used by the team that includes the followings:

    • Robot picture
    • Robot name
    • Height of the robot
    • Weight of the robot
    • Walking speed
    • Number of degrees of freedom
    • Type of motors
    • Type of sensors used (incl. type of camera(s))
    • Computing unit(s)
    • Other specs
  5. Plagiarism
    Plagiarism, loosely the unattributed use of other peoples’ words, code, and ideas (see http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/plagiarism_FAQ.html for a more detailed description) is not tolerated in the RoboCup community. The teams and team members that plagiarize other peoples’ work and present it as their own will be disqualified. For a first offense, the team and team members will be banned from RoboCup competition for two years (usually the current and next year). Harsher penalties will be applied to repeat offenders or extremely serious cases of plagiarism. A team may be disqualified at any time for plagiarism, even after the competition has started. RoboCup will not reimburse teams for any expenses related to their disqualification.
  6. Online Submission
    All qualification material must be submitted online at http://application.germanteam.org/entries/new
  7. Deadline
    Deadline for submission: February 20th, 2014
    Announcement of qualified teams: March 15th, 2014
  8. Publication
    Please note that after the announcement of the qualified teams the qualification material of the qualified teams will be made publicly available. Teams applying for participation therefore grant the right of publication of their qualification material to the humanoid league.
  9. Rules
    The rules of the RoboCup 2014 Humanoid League are discussed at https://lists.cc.gatech.edu/mailman/listinfo/robocup-humanoid and will be published at http://www.tzi.de/humanoid
  10. Special Offer: DARwIn OP
    ROBOTIS (http://www.robotis.com) is offering a special promotion to all teams participating in the 2014 RoboCup Humanoid Kidsize league.
    ROBOTIS will be offering a DARwIn-OP Academic Edition with a complimentary Pelican case for $9,600/USD (EXWORK Korea only). Up to 10 early birds, Webots EDU software license will be provided.
    1-year basic warranty is included (teams should be technically ready for self-maintenance.)
    Please note that the quoted prices do not include shipping, any local customs or tax and handling charges.
    Teams interested in this offer should contact ROBOTIS at contactus2@robotis.com with the promo code (RTS2014BR). This special offer valid for order made until March 22, 2014.
  11. Special Offer: NimbRo-OP
    University of Bonn provides an offer for TeenSize teams to purchase a set of NimbRo-OP robots (http://www.nimbro.net/OP) for a reduced price. University of Bonn offers teams that intend to participate in RoboCup 2014 to purchase two robots for 40,000 Euros or three robots for 56,000 Euros.
    Please note that the quoted price does not include taxes and shipping. Teams that are interested in this offer need to place their order at sales@ais.uni-bonn.de by February 28th, 2014.

With best regards,

Technical and Organization Committees of RoboCup Humanoid League 2014

P.S. Special thanks go to Thomas Roefer and Tim Laurinat from DFKI Bremen for their support of the HL submission and web page.