[robocup-humanoid] Announcement for major rule changes in 2008

[Jacky Baltes]

Hi,

based on discussion at RoboCup 2007, some major changes for the competition
rules in 2008 have been introduced.

Rule changes 1a) to 7a) have been decided on in the last team leaders'
meeting at RoboCup 2007 in Atlanta. The details of rule 3a) still need to be
discussed. Rule 8a) will likely be approved, but is not official yet.

Rule Changes for RoboCup 2008
------------------------------------------------------------------------

1a) The minimum height of TeenSize robots will be increased to 1m, so as to
foster the teams to develop taller robots equipped with cutting edge
technologies making a clear difference from the kidSize robots that are
intrinsically more stable.

1b) The minimum height of 1m for teensize robots will be kept for at least
two years. After that it may be increased to for example 1.2m

2a) In the TeenSize competition, same TeenSize robot has to be used for both
striker and goalie roles, so as to improve the versatility of TeenSize
robots.

2b) In the KidSize soccer game, the goalkeeper must have a unique marker
that it can be easily distinguished from the field players.

3a) The TeenSize Penalty Kick competition will be replaced by "Dribble and
Kick." The basic idea is that the ball has to be located and dribbled by the
robot before kicking it to the goal, so as to improve the vision, control
and locomotion capabilities of TeenSize robots.

Details of 3a):
Jacky Baltes proposes the following Dribble And Kick Challenge.  The
striking robot starts in the middle of the playing field facing the yellow
goal. The goal keeper is in the yellow goal. After the robots are placed,
the ball is placed randomly on the imaginary line segment connecting the two
restart markers in the half of the field with the blue goal (that is the
half behind the robot). After the referee blows the whistle, the striker has
to acquire the ball and score a goal. A goal is only valid if the last point
of contact between the striker and the ball was within the half of the field
with the yellow goal (that is the robot must move the ball into the yellow
half before kicking it into the goal).

The goal keeper will be allowed to move within the goal area, but must
remain standing.

Neither robot is allowed to cross the goal box area.

The maximum time for an attempt is 2 minutes.

Everything else remains the same as the penalty kick competition.

4a) In KidSize soccer games, the number of players will be increased to 3
versus 3, so as to achieve substantial developments in the areas of multi
robot cooperation and sensor sharing.

5a) The foot size of both TeenSize and KidSize robots will be reduced to
H^2/26. This is to promote development of more advanced dynamic walking
algorithm among participating teams.

5b) The foot size may be further reduced to H^2/28 in subsequent years.

6a) In KidSize soccer games, the soccer field measurements used will follow
the TeenSize soccer field [600mm x 400mm]. This is to further improve the
current vision and locomotion capabilities of robots in terms of fast
walking, kicking, and distant ball/goal/post recognition.

6b)The goal size for the teen and kid size league will not change, but the
goal geometry itself may become less massive. A detailed proposal to reduce
the height of the back wall will be provided in the future.

7a)The field of view of the robots will be limited to 180 degrees. This
means that the maximum angle between any two points in the overlap of the
field of views of all cameras mounted on the robot must be less than 180
degrees.

Omnivision cameras can be modified to satisfy 7a) by covering 180 degrees of
the field of view of the camera with for example a black tape.

This is to encourage development of vision strategies wherein the robot
control its body parts to actively seek for object of interest and to
develop short term and long term memory strategies to reconstruct a global
view of the field of play.

8a) In the KidSize league, it is planned to use a regular, orange colour
tennis ball. The problem with the current ball is that it is extremely
difficult and expensive to obtain. First tests of several teams with the
orange ball have been successful. Please start testing with orange tennis
ball immediately and report any objections soon.

Rule change 8a) has not been officially carried yet. However, given the
initially successful test results, it will be carried unless teams voice
their concerns very soon.

Thanks,
   Jacky
-- 
Jacky Baltes, EITC E2-402 Department of Computer Science, University of
Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2
Phone: +1 (204) 474-8838, Fax: +1 (204) 474-7609
Email: jacky (AT) cs.umanitoba.ca
http://aalab.cs.umanitoba.ca
Skype: jacky.baltes
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