Online version: https://athome.robocup.org/2021-cfp-all/

*Call for Participation* RoboCup@Home Virtual 2021 (DSPL · OPL · SSPL)

June 22 – June 28, 2021 (Online) https://2021.robocup.org// https://2021.robocup.org/ https://athome.robocup.org/ https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/RuleBook

RoboCup is an international scientific initiative with the goal to advance the state of the art of intelligent robots through competitions (RoboCup@Home, RoboCup Soccer, RoboCup Rescue, RoboCup@Work and RoboCup Junior).

The RoboCup@Home Virtual competition aims to develop service and assistive robot technology with high relevance for future personal domestic applications. It is the largest international annual competition for autonomous service robots and is part of the RoboCup initiative. A set of benchmark tests is used to evaluate the robots’ abilities and performance in a virtual home environment setting. Focus lies on the following domains but is not limited to: Navigation and Mapping in virtual environments, Computer Vision and Object Recognition, Object Manipulation, Adaptive Behaviors, Behavior Integration, Ambient Intelligence, Standardization and System Integration.

This page describes the preregistration and qualification procedure for RoboCup@Home 2021. Important dates:

Feb. 10, 2021 Publication of the Call for Participation Feb. 28, 2021 Deadline for submission of qualification material and preregistration. (Team Description Paper, Team Video, Team Website). Mar. 14, 2021 Qualification announcement April 24, 2021 Robot model reception

The qualification procedure consists of three simple steps: Step 1) Qualification Material Submission (mandatory)

The team ***MUST*** send an email to the Organizing Committee ( oc@robocupathome.org) to participate in the qualification process for the RoboCup@Home 2021 event. Please fill in the following information: Team Name: League: [ DSPL | OPL | SSPL ] Country: Affiliation: Team Leader Name: Contact information (E-mail): Rank in local tournaments: Link to a team video: Link to a team web site devoted to their efforts:

Team Description Paper (TDP) attached to the email based on the official template (new teams only). *OR* Hereby team [Team Name] countersigns its qualification for RoboCup@Home 2021 (qualified teams only).

The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2021-Qualification] (YourTeamName)

Considerations:

- Only one platform can be specified per team. - Only one team leader can be specified per team. - Only one team video url can be specified per team. - Only one contact email can be specified per team. - All the publications and software to be evaluated for qualification ***MUST*** be in the team’s website. - The email must be encoded in UTF-8 using only the ISO-8859-1 character set.

*IMPORTANT:* Teams qualified for the 2020 RoboCup@Home do *NOT* need to resubmit their TDPs.

***** Deadline: Sunday, February 28, 2021 23:59 GMT ****** Step 2) Participation confirmation

Teams qualified do not require to confirm attendance. Step 3) Robot Model Submission (Open Platform League):

Qualified teams ***MUST*** send the robot model to be used during the competition via email to the Organizing Committee (oc@robocupathome.org). Please follow the template below: Team Name: League: [ DSPL | OPL | SSPL ] Country: Affiliation:

Virtual robot model attached to the email based on the official simulator.

The e-mail subject should be: [@Home2021-RModel] (YourTeamName)

The Technical Committee will inspect the robot models to verify they are compatible with the simulator and that all sensing and actuation is performed at component level and not bypassed by reading the variables of simulator such as position, pixel collision, etcetera.

*IMPORTANT:* OPL teams may opt to use the official robot models of any of the Standard Platform League. In these cases, instead of attaching the robot models, the email must state which model will be used by the team.

***** Deadline: Sunday, April 25, 2021 23:59 GMT ****** Instructions for the Qualification Material Instructions for the Team Video:

In order to proof a running virtual robot model, each team has to provide a qualification video.

As a minimum requirement for qualification, the video must show the robot(s) successfully solving a task involving the following abilities: robust full-stack navigation (navigation, self localization, online mapping and collision avoidance), object manipulation, and object recognition. Is strongly advised to show a test of any of the RoboCup@Home RuleBooks from 2009 on.

*Remarks:*

- The shown task execution must look continuous, smooth, and robust. - When speeding-up video, the speed factor must be indicated. - The language spoken and shown in the video must be English. When using any other languages, translations must be included. - We strongly suggest upload videos to Youtube. - Videos sent will be uploaded/displayed in the league’s youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/channel/UChkdCpT0xrFMMt-_N8wSVew/playlists%E2%80%9D http://www.youtube.com/channel/UChkdCpT0xrFMMt-_N8wSVew/playlists - *Standard Platforms Only:* Teams are encouraged to use the standard robot in their Team Video.

*Copyright note:*When sending videos for qualification, teams implicitly grant permission to RoboCup @Home and the RoboCup Federation to copy, modify, distribute, upload, publish, and use the multimedia material to promote the event and the league at convenience. Instructions for the TDP

The TDP is an 6-pages long scientific paper, detailing information on the technical and scientific approach of the team’s research, while including also the following:

- TDP - Group’s research focus and interests. - Innovative technology and scientific contribution - Please specify when your research is being used by other teams or research groups - Please specify when you are using software from other teams - Brief, general description of the system when solving a [domestic] task (portability to the real world) - The impact of your research must be clearly visible - Maximum length is *6 pages* (including figures and citations) - TDP length is *****6 pages***** (submissions over this hard limit will be discarded).

For the TDP, please use the Springer LNAI format http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0 used in the RoboCup Symposium submissions and limit yourself to 6 pages without altering margins or spacing (including references). You may download a template for the TDP from here https://github.com/RoboCupAtHome/TDPTemplate.

*Remark: *The language for the TDP, its graphics, tables, images, and all additional content must be English. Content in other languages must be translated.

*Copyright note:*All TDPs sent for qualification may be made publicly available in the RoboCup @Home Wiki for further reference. On submitting, teams implicitly grant permission to RoboCup @Home and the RoboCup Federation to copy, distribute, upload, publish, and use the manuscript to promote the event and the league at convenience.

***** Exceeding the number of pages will automatically void your application *****. Instructions for the Web site

While the TDP goes into detail about the technical and scientific approach of the team’s research, the website should be designed for a broader audience, including:

- Photos of the virtual and/or real robot(s) - Videos of the virtual and/or real robot(s) - Description of the approaches and information on scientific achievements - Relevant publications (last 5 years, preferably available to download) - Link to repositories with software for the community - Team members - Previous participation in RoboCup - Participation and rankings in local RoboCup tournaments

*Remark: *No IP addresses will be accepted as website.

*Remark: *Only documented active software repositories are considered as contributions to the league. It must be clear and straightforward to other teams how to use your software.

Qualification materials will be judged by the following criteria:

- Team description paper (clarity, scientific contributions, re-usability by the league, applicability in real world) - Performance in local tournaments and previous competitions. - Qualification Video (number of demonstrated abilities, integration, difficulty of the task, portability to the real world) - Website (multimedia, publications from last 5 years, downloadable content, open-source software and other contributions) - Relevant Scientific contribution/publications (downloadable papers and open-source software) - Novelty of approach (what you do is new for @Home)

We encourage teams to produce self-explicative videos for a general audience where complex tasks are solved. For Team Description Papers focus on the scientific contribution and avoid brief descriptions of the overall system.

With kind regards, and looking forward to see your team online, The 2021 RoboCup@Home Organizing and Technical Committees