Call for Participation

Call for Participation
RoboCup 2016 Humanoid League

June 30th to July 4th, 2016 (Leipzig, Germany)
http://www.robocup2016.org/

Contents


The RoboCup humanoid league is inviting interested teams to apply for participation at the RoboCup 2016 competition in Leipzig, Germany.

The humanoid league will host competitions in three classes:

  • KidSize: 40 – 90cm robot height (FIFA size 1 ball)
  • TeenSize: 80 – 140cm robot height (FIFA size 3 ball; maximum weight 20kg)
  • AdultSize: 130 – 180cm robot height (FIFA size 5 ball; minimum weight 10kg)

For more detailed class definitions and more information about the humanoid league, please refer to the humanoid league home page at https://humanoid.robocup.org/ 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 2016, 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. At least one team member must register on each team. 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

  • 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. Please pay special attention to the “Author guidelines” that you’ll be able to find there. You are expected to follow all LNCS formatting and style guidelines.

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.

4. Letter of commitment

A one-page letter addressed to the RoboCup Humanoid League Technical Committee including the following:

  • a statement committing to participate in the RoboCup 2016 Humanoid League competition,
  • a statement committing to make a person with sufficient knowledge of the rules available as referee during the competition,

The letter must be printed, hand signed by the team leader, digitally scanned and submitted either as a JPG, PNG or PDF file.

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.

5. 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 in cm/s
  • Number of degrees of freedom and type of motors on each kinematic chain of the robot
  • Type of sensors used (incl. type of camera(s))
  • Computing unit(s)
  • Other specs

6. Plagiarism

Plagiarism, loosely the unattributed use of other peoples’ words, code, and ideas is not tolerated in the RoboCup community. See plagiarism_FAQ.html for a more detailed description. 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.

7. Online Submission

All qualification material must be submitted online at

http://submission.robocuphumanoid.org/

8. Deadline

Deadline for submission: February 5th, 2016

Announcement of qualified teams: February 28th, 2016

9. 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.

10. Rules

The rules of the RoboCup 2016 Humanoid League are discussed at https://lists.cc.gatech.edu/mailman/listinfo/robocup-humanoid and will be published at https://humanoid.robocup.org/

11. Special Offer: ROBOTIS

ROBOTIS (http://www.robotis.com) is offering a special promotion to all teams participating in the 2016 RoboCup Humanoid Kid-size league. ROBOTIS will be offering a ROBOTIS OP2 for $8,000/USD per unit or $35,000 for 5 units. (EXWORK Korea only) 1-year basic warranty is included (teams should be technically ready for self-maintenance.) Please note that the quoted prices do not include shipping, tax, any local customs or handling charges. Teams interested in this offer should contact ROBOTIS at contactus2@robotis.com with the promo code (RTS2016DE).

This special offer valid for an order made until April 29, 2016.

 12. RoboCup fee waiver for new teams

The RoboCup Federation is pleased to introduce a waiver of the team fee for the 2016 international RoboCup competition for NEW teams in the major leagues. A NEW team is defined as a team all of whose team members have never participated in an annual international RoboCup competition. The waiver concerns only the team fee and does not imply any waiver of fees for team members.

With best regards,

Technical and Organization Committees of RoboCup Humanoid League 2016