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RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer League Competition - 1st Call for Participation
by Reinaldo A. C. Bianchi 20 Dec '25

20 Dec '25

1st Call for Participation RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer League Competition June 30th - July 6th, 2026, Incheon, South Korea ======================================= The RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League invites teams to apply for participation at the RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer Competition in Incheon, South Korea. RoboCup is an international initiative that fosters research and education in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions (RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupIndustrial, RoboCupJunior) involving mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCupSoccer currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. More information can be found on the official website: https://www.robocup.org/ The Humanoid Soccer League (HSL) was formed through the unification of the Humanoid League (HL) and Standard Platform League (SPL) and will take place for the first time at the RoboCup 2026. HSL hosts games and challenges where teams of humanoid robots play soccer autonomously. The game of soccer serves as an environment for research, development, and education in all areas of autonomous humanoid robots, including hardware development, vision, bipedal locomotion, learning, behavior control, and team coordination. The focus is thereby on human-like abilities of the robots. The Humanoid Soccer League will host competitions in the following divisions, depending on the height and weight of the robot players: * Small Robot Division: height < 110 cm, weight < 15 kg * Middle Robot Division: height < 125 cm; weight < 25 kg * Large Robot Division: height < 190 cm; weight < 80 kg Teams in each division will have the choice to play in two team configurations: 1. Foundation - with a smaller number of players; 2. Advanced - with a larger number of players. In a game, if one team chooses to play in a Foundation configuration, then both teams must play in this configuration. The maximum number of players in a game for each configuration is shown in the table below: * Small — Foundation: max 4 | Advanced: max 7 * Middle — Foundation: max 3 | Advanced: max 5 * Large — Foundation: max 3 | Advanced: max 5 Teams are welcome to apply even if they are unable to provide a full team of robots (the maximum number of robot players). Teams are encouraged to form and apply as joint teams. Joint proposals will be judged on their combined merit. For more details on divisions, please refer to the Humanoid Soccer League rules at: https://github.com/RoboCup-HumanoidSoccerLeague/HSL-Rules. 1. Robots ======================================= Teams may apply for participation with both commercially available and with humanoid robot platforms constructed by the teams. A selection of robots is available for purchase through the RoboCup Humanoid Robot Program at a special RoboCup offer: https://robotprogram.robocup.org/ As part of the RoboCup Humanoid Robot Program, there will be a pool of humanoid robot models K1 and T1 provided by the company Booster for RoboCup 2026. Teams will be able to borrow the robots from the pool and use them in their games. 2. Application Process and Timeline ======================================= 2.1. Important Dates --------------------------------------- * Submission system open: January 1st, 2026 * Pre-application deadline: January 10th, 2026 * Submission deadline: January 31st, 2026 * Team review period: February 3rd - 20th, 2026 * Announcement of qualified teams: March 2nd, 2026 2.2. Online Submission --------------------------------------- All application materials must be submitted online at: https://submission.robocuphumanoid.com/login Teams may apply for participation in one or several divisions. Teams applying for participation in several divisions must submit individual application materials for each division. Please be informed that the submission system is being updated. To submit an application, it is necessary to create new accounts on the system. Accounts of the teams that used the system last year should be available and can be used this year. 2.3. Review Process --------------------------------------- Each application to the Humanoid Soccer Competition will be reviewed by two members of the Technical Committee and two other randomly assigned teams applying to the Humanoid Soccer Competition. The combined reviewing score will be used to decide whether a team qualifies for participation. Reviewing other teams' material is mandatory for teams that want to participate in the Humanoid Soccer Competition. Failing to provide an adequate review by the provided deadline will have consequences for the team's own qualification status. 3. Application Material (Robot/Team information to submit) ======================================= For the qualification process, teams must provide the following material: 3.1. Pre-application / Team-Information --------------------------------------- Team name URL of the team's home page Name of team leader or team contact person E-mail address of the team leader or contact person Competition Division: Small, Middle, Large – with robot numbers 3.2. Video --------------------------------------- Teams need to provide a video of their current or previous physical robot demonstrating the robot's autonomous soccer-playing skills. The recommended skills needed for the qualification are: * Localization of unknown ball position * Walking ability towards the ball * Robot positioning at the ball for kicking * Kicking the ball towards the goal * Passing the ball from one player to another * Avoiding other robots autonomously * Ability to get up autonomously after a fall We encourage teams to include in the video more complex and intelligent behavior, such as demonstrating localization, and robots playing in a game. Recordings from actual soccer matches are welcome. If possible, please provide footage that demonstrates the robot's behavior without wires attached. We understand that teams transitioning to new robot platforms from the former SPL and HL leagues may not yet have their physical robots, nor soccer-ready software/hardware to demonstrate by the qualification deadlines. Teams may alternatively demonstrate in their video their software/hardware capabilities from previous years on other robot platforms, and/or capabilities in simulation. We encourage teams, if possible, to include a demonstration of their current capabilities on their intended platform. * The maximum duration of the video must not exceed ** 5 minutes **. * The qualification video must be supplied as a link (e.g., uploaded on the team’s website or on some video server like YouTube). The qualifying team is responsible for ensuring that the video is accessible and viewable with modern browsers. Note, if YouTube is used, make sure the video adheres to YouTube's TOS (especially concerning music copyright) to prevent the video from being blocked for the reviewers. Teams that do not provide a qualification video or a viewable video will not be qualified. 3.3. Team Description Paper --------------------------------------- A team description paper must be submitted. For teams that have previously participated in the Humanoid League or Standard Platform League, the team description paper must include: * Lessons learned from participation in previous RoboCup competitions. * Highlight major challenges that the team is trying to solve for the upcoming competition. * Outline the plans for the major changes that the teams anticipate to have implemented by the RoboCup 2026 competition. * Describe the implementation status of the planned changes at the time of submitting the application. * Explain the impact of the team’s participation and research in RoboCup on (1) the Humanoid Soccer League, (2) the team’s university/community. * Demonstrate own contribution to the RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League or humanoid robotics research in general: Describe in detail the “research publishable” significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2026. This can, for instance, include software or hardware releases, paper publications, provision of league infrastructure, or data sets. * Any other information that supports your application. For teams that have never participated in the RoboCup Humanoid League or Standard Platform League, the Team Description Paper must outline the scientific aspects of their humanoid robotic system and highlight their research focus. The submission should show clear contributions and advancements intended to be used during the competition. The team description papers are intended to highlight the changes and scientific developments since the last RoboCup. Thus, we expect the usage of material from previous TDPs or Extended Abstracts to be minimal. If material from previous TDPs is used, it must be cited appropriately. Submissions of last year's Extended Abstract will be desk-rejected. The team description paper is limited to ** 4 pages **, excluding references, and must be submitted in PDF format. The team description paper must follow the LNCS format, which can be downloaded from: https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…. Teams that do not follow the LNCS formatting and style guidelines will not be qualified. No exceptions to this rule will be made. 3.4. Software Description --------------------------------------- During the application process, a form will be provided to submit brief details about the algorithms used or anticipated to be used for participation in the 2026 competition. The form will include brief questions in the following areas: * Walking * Vision * Localization * Behavior * Team Communication Responses to the questions are expected to reflect the current and anticipated status of the software during the RoboCup 2026 competition. If software from other teams, third-party software libraries, or "off-the-shelf soccer-ready" libraries/algorithms are used, teams must reference this use. References should include the team, competition, and year when code is used from another team, or reference publicly available documentation for software libraries. Teams should describe how they have adapted the use of this software within their own codebase. 3.5. Hardware Specification --------------------------------------- A one-page specification (PDF) must be provided for each different type of humanoid robot used by the team that includes the following: * Robot picture (can be on a separate page) (3D model if the physical one is not available yet) * Robot name * Height of the robot * Weight of the robot * Number of degrees of freedom and type of motors on each kinematic chain of the robot * Actuator model name and Wattage * Type of sensors used (incl. type of camera(s) and specific manufacturer part number (e.g., "6-DoF IMU" is NOT an acceptable description)) * Computing unit(s) * Materials (e.g., Torso aluminium, legs and arms CFRP) * Electronics (e.g., CM730 for communicating with servos) * Battery (e.g. 3S1P 2200mAh LiPo) * Open Source link if applicable * Other specs (Jerseys if already available) Teams that are using pre-approved, unmodified HSL standard platforms only need to provide information directly available from the manufacturer's documentation to confirm they are using an unmodified standard platform. Teams do not need to provide details where information is not available via manufacturer-provided documentation, such as due to commercial confidence. 3.6. Letter of Commitment --------------------------------------- A one-page letter addressed to the RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League Technical Committee, including the following: * a statement committing to participate in the RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer League competition; * a statement committing to make a person with sufficient knowledge of the rules available as a referee during the competition. The letter must be signed (by hand or using a digital signature software as Adobe or DocuSign) by the team leader and submitted either as a JPG, PNG, or PDF file. A template for this letter can be found at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qNILlggOj5j_cHhof1b6NICPyfgVrp-M/edit?u… If you have doubts regarding the ability of your team to participate (due to funding, visas, etc.), please apply by the deadline, but note this in your application email. Declining to participate in any competition after the official early registration period has opened may negatively affect future applications (the later you decline, the worse it will affect future applications). 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. Teams must guarantee to have at least one member per division they participate in, acting as a referee, available independently. Note that teams may be scheduled to play a game and referee a different game at the same time. 4. Organizational Information ======================================= 4.1. Rules --------------------------------------- The current version of the rules may be found here in the git: https://github.com/RoboCup-HumanoidSoccerLeague/HSL-Rules. The current version is under development and subject to change. We expect the final version of the 2026 rules to be published in spring 2026. For more information about the Humanoid Soccer League and connections with other teams, please refer to the RoboCup Official Discord: https://discord.gg/fjrepNWk. 4.2. Plagiarism --------------------------------------- Plagiarism, loosely the unattributed use of other people's words, code, and ideas, is not tolerated in the RoboCup community. For a more detailed description, see the point "Publishing Ethics" at: https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu… The teams and team members who plagiarize other people's 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. 4.3. Publication --------------------------------------- Please note that after the announcement of the qualified teams, the submitted materials of the qualified teams will be made publicly available on the Humanoid Soccer League website. Teams applying for participation, therefore, implicitly grant the right of publication of their qualification material to the Humanoid Soccer League. Therefore, teams should ensure their qualification materials contain no commercial-in-confidence information or other content that would restrict publication. 4.4. Visa Process --------------------------------------- South Korea offers visa-free entry for many countries for short tourism/business stays (under 90 days), but most need the K-ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) before arrival. Please verify your visa requirements at the South Korea Visa Portal: https://www.visa.go.kr/main/openMain.do The letters of invitation are issued by the RoboCup federation, not the TC, and they are part of the official registration process. We look forward to seeing you all at the RoboCup 2026! With best regards, Technical Committee of the RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League 2026 Esta mensagem, juntamente com qualquer outra informação anexada, é confidencial e protegida por lei. Somente os seus destinatários estão autorizados a usá-la. Se você não for o destinatário, por favor, informe o remetente e, em seguida, apague a mensagem, observando que não há autorização para usar, copiar, armazenar, encaminhar, imprimir ou tomar qualquer ação baseada no seu conteúdo.

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Dutch Nao Team Code Release
by Gijs de Jong 12 Dec '25

12 Dec '25

Dear SPL Teams, We are happy to announce the Dutch Nao Team 2025 code release. Our full software repository is now open source, and the exact version used at RoboCup 2025 has been tagged as robocup-2025. Apologies for the delayed release. This was an oversight on our side while transitioning our development focus to the Booster platform. The repository includes our complete SPL stack, covering perception, localization, behavior, motion, visualization, tooling and simulation support. You can find the release here: https://github.com/IntelligentRoboticsLab/yggdrasil/releases/tag/robocup-20… Best regards, Dutch Nao Team *PS:* We would like to thank everyone in the league for the many great interactions and the wonderful time we had in the SPL as the Dutch Nao Team. Going forward, our team will continue under a new name: whIRLwind Amsterdam. Updates on our work and future activities can be found on our new website: https://whirlwind.team/

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Newsletter #2 - Humanoid Soccer League
by Caron, Benjamin 05 Dec '25

05 Dec '25

New Division Structure for the Humanoid Soccer League (HSL) The Technical Committee is pleased to announce the latest developments for the new humanoid soccer league. This newsletter provides clarifications on the current state of decisions regarding the divisions, ball specifications, and jersey requirements for the RoboCup 2026. Town Hall All teams are invited to a Town Hall meeting. The Town Hall will be held on December 15th at 11:00 UTC online in Zoom: https://hu-berlin.zoom-x.de/j/68018766319?pwd=bbgiDWtbSCcRv9ZWdyUSapBaFZeza… The agenda for the meeting will be: * Mission and Vision of the HSL * HSL design requirements and parameters * Rule set review: * Legal Robot parameters, constructed & standard platforms * Divisions and Foundation/Advanced tiers * Team sizes * Brief Game Rules review * Future coming directions and league requirements, 2027-2028 * Q&A Session, including pre-provided questions/comments During the Q&A session, priority will be given to questions submitted in advance. Please use this form: https://forms.gle/2QNeWgvg8ciKBAzw9 Three Competitive Divisions for 2026 The division structure is the central component of the new league. Thus, the decision regarding the competition divisions was a lengthy process that involved many individuals from TCs to EXECS and Trustees. We took into account many opinions, including all the discussions held on Discord, and carefully considered all relevant factors. Consequently, this division is final for the 2026 season, and no further changes will be made. Division Max Weight Max Height Players Ball Size Small 15 kg 110 cm 4-7 SPL / FIFA Mini Middle 25 kg 125 cm 3-5 FIFA 3 or 4 Large 80 kg 190 cm 3-5 FIFA 5 Division Overview * Small Division Entry tier of the HSL, welcoming both NAO and kid-size research robots. Designed for accessibility while supporting innovation and providing a smooth transition from the former SPL. In this division, the maximum weight and height of the robots have an upper limit, meaning that robots that are heavier or higher than the limit are not allowed. The details of how the FIFA Miniball and the smaller, softer SPL ball will be used are still being debated. * Middle Division Intermediate tier between small and full-size platforms, enabling stronger actuators, larger sensor payloads, and more advanced locomotion research, while still allowing for easy handling and large team sizes. Both size 3 and size 4 balls will be used, depending on availability. * Large Division Aligned with adult human-scale proportions (up to 190 cm / 80 kg), this division brings robots closer to real-world adult soccer challenges. Smaller robots (i.e., those meeting the weight and height specifications of a lower division) are permitted to compete in larger divisions. We anticipate and hope for a diverse competitive landscape featuring teams fielding a variety of robot types, including both commercial platforms and custom research robots of different sizes. However, for a team utilizing multiple types of robots, the entire team is restricted by the physical specifications (maximum height or maximum weight) of the largest robot on the field. It is important to note that teams should expect further increases in the small division limits over the next years, leading up to the consolidation in two categories only: one that would allow robots to play with children of up to 10 years; and another with robots that could compete with teen and adult human players. Field Dimensions The field sizes for the proposed divisions are described in the following table: Division Width x Length (meters) Small 6 × 9 Middle 6 x 9 up to 9 x 14 Large 9 x 14 up to 14 X 22 The size of the small division field is equal to that of the Humanoid League KidSize and the SPL fields, and the largest dimension in the middle division equals the Humanoid AdultSize field. These dimensions maintain continuity with historical league formats while accommodating the new divisional structure. The middle and large fields are specified as a range, and they reflect the variability permitted in real-world FIFA field specifications. Team Configurations Teams in each division can choose to play in two team configurations: Foundation - with a smaller number of players; and Advanced - with a larger number of players. If in a game one of the teams chooses to play in a Foundation configuration, then both teams must play in this configuration to ensure fairness. The maximum number of players in a game for each configuration is shown in the table below: Division Foundation Advanced Small 4 players 7 players Middle 3 players 5 players Large 3 players 5 players Those numbers denote the maximum number of players in a team. A team can always compete with fewer robots than the maximum configuration allowance. In the Middle division, starting from the quarter-finals onwards, all matches will be played in the Advanced configuration. Whether a robot pool can be provided to fill up teams that cannot field enough robots is currently under discussion. Teams are encouraged to choose the Advanced configuration in the small and large divisions as well, for example, by forming merged teams. It is likely that in the next years Advanced configurations will be enforced in all divisions. Fitness Tests Robot inspections verify that robots meet the physical specifications for their division, but they do not assess robot abilities (e.g., standing up is not required for eligibility). Fitness tests and leaderboard challenges will be included in the competition in some form, though the exact structure is still under discussion. These fitness tests serve as a benchmark to monitor the progress of the league. Failure to pass any of the tests will not prevent teams from participating. Robot Color and Jerseys Robot bodies must be colored mostly with a neutral color, such as black, gray, white, or silver, and be non-reflective. Robots use colored jersey shirts as team markers. A Jersey is a tank top-style shirt that may start at the neck and go down to the waistline, and does not cover the arms of the robots. It must cover at least 50% of the upper body of the robot. Jerseys must have a primary color that comprises more than half of the jersey. The primary color must be recognizable from the front and back. Jerseys should not contain distracting patterns that could be confused with other elements of the soccer field, such as field lines or the ball. Jersey material must be non-reflecting, non-shiny, and non-glittery. Jerseys may be manufactured from fabric and fine mesh. Each team must provide two jersey designs in distinctly different solid colors. The jersey color must clearly contrast with any uncovered parts of the robot to ensure reliable identification. Robots must display clear identification numbers (player number): a large number on the back and a smaller number on the front. Sponsorship logos will be allowed on jerseys, though detailed guidelines are still being finalized. Jersey designs must be submitted for approval prior to the competition. Robot Stand-Up Requirement Robots are expected to recover autonomously after a fall during a game. If a robot is unable to stand up on its own during play, a standard penalty will be applied. Robots that are not physically designed to stand up unassisted may still participate in the competition; however, the same penalty rules will apply when they are unable to recover from a fall during a game. Rule repository The rules are actively developed on this repository: https://github.com/RoboCup-HumanoidSoccerLeague/HSL-Rules <https://github.com/RoboCup-HumanoidSoccerLeague/HSL-Rules> However, please note that due to the early stage, those rules are subject to change. Best regards, The Executive and Technical Committee of the Humanoid Soccer League (HSL)

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RoboCup German Open 2026 - Save the Date 10 - 14/03/26
by Heinrich Mellmann 12 Nov '25

12 Nov '25

*RoboCup German Open 2026* *Save the Date - Major Leagues* https://robocup.de/german-open/?lang=en <https://robocup.de/german-open/?lang=en> Cologne Trade Fair, Cologne, Germany The 23nd RoboCup German Open 2026 will take place from *March 10-14* in Cologne. Cologne with its welcoming vibe offers a captivating mix of culture, architecture, history, and lively atmosphere. From the awe-inspiring Cologne Cathedral — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — to its dynamic art scene and riverside cafés along the Rhine, the city invites exploration. For example, visitors can enjoy world-class museums, the walkable old town with many bars, or festive events like the Cologne Carnival. Cologne is a perfect destination for both history lovers and urban adventurers and a great host for RoboCup German Open 2026. Every regional and international Major team is cordially invited to take part in the event. *RoboCup Major Leagues (international teams)* After the team setup on March 10th, the competitions will take place from 11th to 14th of March 2026 in the following main leagues: * RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League * RoboCupSoccer Small Size League * RoboCupRescue Robot League * RoboCupIndustrial Smart Manufacturing League * RoboCup@Home League Registration opens *December 1st, 2025*, further announcements will follow. Registration deadline *January 31st, 2026* Late registration deadline (team members only) *February 28th, 2026*. Teams are advised to arrange their own accommodation *as early as possible* as cost of accommodation is expected to rise in the run-up of the event. Most recent rule developments in all leagues, especially the Soccer and Smart Manufacturing Leagues will be considered for the competitions. Depending on sufficient interest from teams in participating, additional major leagues, such as the Middle Size League, may be offered. *Further information on co-located events* RoboCup German Open 2026 will be embedded in didacta 2026, which is Europe’s largest education fair and most important continuing education event for teachers. Over 700 exhibitors from more than 60 countries will present their offerings in Cologne. Participants tickets to RoboCup German Open will include didacta tickets as well. The 2nd German Robotics Conference on AI-powered robotics, organized by the Robotics Institute Germany, will take place from March 11 to 13, 2026, parallel to the RoboCup German Open and in close proximity to it. -- Prof. Dr. Alexander Ferrein Mobile Autonomous Systems & Cognitive Robotics Institute Robotics and Foundations of Computer Science FH Aachen - University of Applied Sciences Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology Eupener Strasse 70 | 52066 Aachen | Germany T: +49 241 6009 51904 | F: +49 241 6009 52190 E: ferrein(a)fh-aachen.de | W: www.ferrein.fh-aachen.de Speaker Major Competitions of the RoboCup German Regional Committee W: www.robocup.de Former Vice-Chair of the African-German Network of Excellence in Science A Network of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation W: www.agnes-h.org

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[CfP] The 12th Robotic Hamburg Open Workshop (RoHOW) | Nov 28-30, 2025
by HULKs 24 Oct '25

24 Oct '25

Dear RoboCup Community and Robot Soccer Enthusiasts, We are thrilled to officially invite you to the *12th Robotic Hamburg Open Workshop (RoHOW)*, hosted by the HULKs robot soccer team at the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH)! The event will take place from November 28 - November 30, 2025 at TUHH Hamburg, Germany. RoHOW is our annual networking and educational event designed for RoboCup teams to share insights, discuss advancements, and tackle challenges in humanoid robotics and robot soccer. We strive to create a friendly and collaborative environment for in-depth discussions, hands-on workshops, and informative talks. *An Open Space for Ideas* The event follows the concept of an "Open Space Conference." This means the program is agile and flexible, shaped by the topics /you/ want to explore. This means a large part of the event is dedicated to participant-driven discussions. It's the perfect place to exchange ideas on the evolution of the league or any other cutting-edge topic you're passionate about. *All Robot Soccer Teams Welcome!* In the spirit of the ongoing unification of the RoboCup soccer divisions, we want to make it clear that this invitation isn't just for SPL teams. *We warmly invite teams from all robot soccer leagues* to join the event! *New This Year: Livestream Option* For the first time, we will be setting up a livestream for our main talks, allowing teams to participate remotely. Please note that to maintain the informal and open atmosphere of our discussions, the "couch zone" sessions and informal discussion rounds will /not/ be streamed. Registration for the livestreams will be required as well. We will also have opportunities for our industry partners and sponsors to showcase their exciting projects. *Event Summary:* * *Event:* 12th Robotic Hamburg Open Workshop (RoHOW) * *Dates:* November 28-30, 2025 * *Location:* Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Hamburg, Germany * *Participation Fee:* 55€ (This covers drinks, dinner on Friday, and breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.) *Registration* To register your team (for either in-person or online participation), please send an email to *hulks(a)hulks.de* by *November 15, 2025*. In your email, please state: 1. Your team name. 2. How many members plan to attend in person. 3. If you are interested in the remote livestream option. We want to make sure everyone can attend. If any team members find it difficult to pay the full price, please send a mail to *hulks(a)hulks.de* for a "friends ticket" so we can work out a solution. For further information, please keep an eye on our website: *https://rohow.de* Please also feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions! We can't wait to welcome you to Hamburg! Best regards Team HULKs

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NaoClinic at GermanOpen
by Stella Schlotter 23 Oct '25

23 Oct '25

Hi everyone, For the GermanOpen 2026, we’d like to assess the need for a Nao Clinic and are therefore reaching out to find out which teams are planning to compete with Nao robots next year. Your feedback will help us plan accordingly. Best regards, Stella Schlotter on behalf of RoboCup Germany

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RoboEireann Code Release 2025
by Rudi Villing 16 Oct '25

16 Oct '25

Dear RoboCup SPL Teams, We hereby announce the availability of our 2025 Code Release at: https://github.com/roboeireann/RoboEireannCodeRelease This is the complete code release representing the state of the code as of the end of RoboCup 2025 with some very minor tidy up. It has everything required to run a game and also contains the code used in technical and leaderboard challenges. Best regards, Rudi (on behalf of RoboEireann)

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B-Human Code Release 2025
by Thomas Röfer 16 Oct '25

16 Oct '25

Hi RoboCuppers! The team B-Human announces the availability of our 2025 code release at https://github.com/bhuman/BHumanCodeRelease This is the complete B-Human code release! The software released is a cleaned-up version of the system we used in the 2025 competitions. This is the whole system, i.e the soccer code and the code used in the technical challenge, together with a detailed documentation (found at https://docs.b-human.de/coderelease2025<https://docs.b-human.de/coderelease2024>). Our software is released with its own 3-D simulator. It is now based on MuJoCo instead of ODE to support a more realistic simulation of the robots. Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS are fully supported. In our contribution to the Open Research Challenge, we presented our framework running on a Booster T1 robot. This is part of this code release. The code also runs on the Booster K1, although the support is not complete yet. For both robots, we also provide early versions of learned walks that work both on the real robots and in our simulator. Have fun :-) Team B-Human

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RedbackBots Code Release 2025
by Timothy Wiley 15 Oct '25

15 Oct '25

Dear SPL Teams, RedbackBots are pleased to announce that our 2025 Code Release is available at: https://github.com/rmit-computing-technologies/redbackbots-coderelease Our corresponding Team Report for 2025 is available in the repository at: https://github.com/rmit-computing-technologies/redbackbots-coderelease/blob… We are also pleased to note that our Augmented Reality Visualiser, GameSight, as discussed during the 2025 Open Research Challenge is available at: https://github.com/rmit-computing-technologies/redbackbots-gamesight Kind Regards, Timothy Wiley On behalf of the RedbackBots Team. Dr. Timothy Wiley | Lecturer, School of Computing Technologies | RMIT University Building 14, Level 11 (City Campus) | Homepage<https://timothy-wiley.github.io> | RAIsE Hub | AI Innovation Lab<http://rmit.edu.au/ailab> Executive Committee | RoboCup Soccer RoboCup Federation<https://www.robocup.org>

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Berlin United Code Release
by Stella Schlotter 15 Oct '25

15 Oct '25

Hi everyone our code release is published at https://github.com/BerlinUnited/NaoTH/releases/tag/release%2Frc2025 Best Stella

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Newsletter #1 - New RoboCup Soccer League
by Caron, Benjamin 07 Oct '25

07 Oct '25

Introducing the New RoboCup Soccer League (Official name to be announced) RoboCup 2026 will mark the beginning of a new chapter in humanoid robot soccer. The Standard Platform League (SPL) and the Humanoid League (HL) are merging into a single unified league. This brings together years of expertise, innovation, and competition under one framework. Why merge? * Shared goals: Both leagues focus on humanoid soccer, but from different angles. * Unified platform: A single set of design and gameplay rules will allow for a more direct comparison of approaches. * Future growth: A larger, more diverse league will drive faster progress in humanoid robotics. Minimum Robot Rules The Technical Committees (TC) of both the former SPL and HL are currently working on the detailed rules for the new league. For now, here are some important updates: 1. Robot eligibility for RoboCup 2026 * Both commercially available and self-built robots will be allowed, as well as mixtures * All robots that competed at RoboCup 2025 in either the SPL or HL will be eligible. * All robots listed on robotprogram.robocup.org<https://robotprogram.robocup.org/> are also accepted. 2. Minimum requirement for all competing robots * Robots participating in the league must have a human-like body shape with a torso, head, two arms, and two legs, as well as human-like symmetry and proportions regarding sizes of the body parts and weight distribution (Definition of humanoid robot from Kajima et al, 2005). * Locomotion: Robots must walk bipedally, run, or jump. They must stand upright on their feet and recover from falls. * Body Mass Index (BMI): 5 ≤ BMI ≤ 30. * Leg length: Must follow human-like proportions: 0.35 · Htop ≤ Hleg ≤ 0.7 · Htop (Htop = total robot height). * Arm span: Inspired by da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man for human-like proportions: 0.8 · Htop ≤ Aspan ≤ 1.2 · Htop. * Arm functionality: Arm length and placement must support human-like behaviors (e.g., standing up after a fall, picking up or throwing a ball). * Not allowed: non-human-like support (e.g., using arms to assist walking). * Arms must not reach below the knees when standing upright. * Head height: Must follow proportional constraints: 0.1 · Htop ≤ Hhead ≤ 0.3 · Htop. * Sensor * Allowed sensors Robots may include any of the following: * Vision: RGB camera (opening angle < 180°), stereo camera, event camera * Audio: Microphone array * Inertial: Gyroscope, accelerometer, IMU (without compass) * Force and touch: Force sensors, touch sensors, buttons/bumpers, other haptic sensors * Intrinsic: Temperature, current, joint positions, and other internal measurements * Not allowed sensors The following are prohibited to ensure equal conditions for all robots: * Omnidirectional (360°) camera * Independent compass * LIDAR (2D/3D) * Ultra-Wideband (UWB) distance measurement * Bluetooth-based localization * Unmentioned sensors are still subject to evaluation 1. Eligible standard robot platforms (non-exhaustive): * Nao V5, Nao V6 * Darwin (model) * Booster T1, K1 * Fourier GR1, GR1-Pro, GR2 * Unitree G1, H1 Envisioned Timeline The TC will share more details in the coming months on: * Divisions - mid October * More information on mechanical and electrical components - mid October * Game rules - early November * Safety - mid November RoboCup 2026 participation survey The Technical Committee would like to gather information on teams’ intentions to participate in the new Soccer League. Please fill out the following form here<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GHyBmgWAwPkWkOcLqCsbFu5WN578o2ckU8ihO4k0sn…>. Stay tuned for updates as we build this exciting new chapter in RoboCup soccer! The Technical Committee of the new RoboCup Soccer League

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RoboCup: Participate in Our League Name Survey!
by Sam Griffiths 06 Oct '25

06 Oct '25

Dear RoboCup Teams, We hope this message finds you well. As we prepare for an exciting change in 2026, RoboCup is merging the Standard Platform League (SPL) and the Humanoid League (HL) into a unified league. About the New League; To help inform your choice of league name, here are the key characteristics of the merged league: * The league will focus on the game of soccer * It will be for humanoid-like robots only * This will be RoboCup's single Major League for humanoid robots playing soccer (consolidating what were previously two separate Major Leagues) * The league may include multiple divisions to group robots by weight, size, and abilities, ensuring fair and competitive matches across different robot capabilities To ensure this new league reflects the spirit and vision of our community, we are inviting you to participate in our RoboCup League Name Survey. Your team's input on potential names for this merged league will help guide the Trustees' decision-making process. Please take a moment to fill out the survey and share your valuable insights. Teams are encouraged to submit one response per team, however, multiple responses are allowed. Survey Link<https://forms.gle/u6Ei4FfGMZgUxqb67> Plain text: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf8bTIpMEPeflgX65ysjusxUKwSANrWmJD… Thank you for your participation and support. Sam Griffiths, On Behalf of the 2026 SPL+HL Technical Committee

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Naova code release 2025
by Club Naova 19 Sep '25

19 Sep '25

Hello everyone, I wanted to inform you that our code release for the shared autonomy challenge can be found at the following link: https://github.com/Naova/NaovaRelease [https://opengraph.githubassets.com/1d8d0509ee4432f32ef80ef55f20f3dfcf43da4d…]<https://github.com/Naova/NaovaRelease> GitHub - Naova/NaovaRelease<https://github.com/Naova/NaovaRelease> Contribute to Naova/NaovaRelease development by creating an account on GitHub. github.com Kind regards, [cid:fa198970-7cb7-47fd-b567-549a221d0021] Christine Yang-Dai | Étudiante en génie logiciel Co-Capitaine du club scientifique Naova École de technologie supérieure | 1100, rue Notre-Dame Ouest Montréal (Qc) Canada | H3C1K3 Tél. : 438-926-5898 | Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/clubnaova/> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/naorobotique/> | Site Web<https://www.clubnaova.ca/>

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CodeRelease 2025 - HULKs
by HULKs TUHH 19 Sep '25

19 Sep '25

Dear SPL Community, Thank you all for an amazing RoboCup 2025 in Brazil! As you know, our software is developed fully open source and remains accessible to everyone at all times. The state of our codebase used during the competition is available here: https://github.com/HULKs/hulk/releases/tag/robocup2025 We believe that open sourcing codebases strengthens collaboration and enables everyone to benefit from shared knowledge and innovation. We encourage other teams to consider releasing their code as well. Best regards Team HULKs

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RC Soccer SPL Call for TC/OC Nominations
by Timothy Wiley 16 Jul '25

16 Jul '25

Dear SPL Teams, TL;DR This is a call for nominations to the SPL organising committee (OC) and technical committee (TC). Without the work that these committees do, RoboCup SPL would not be possible. Both committees generally require 4-5 members each. We ask that all teams nominate candidates for the committees. This year, we are particularly focused on strong representation from as many active teams as possible to help drive the new direction of our league. Please email your nominations to the Execs by Thursday 17 July, 5.00pm (Brazil - Brasilia Standard Time) as indicated below. What does being a committee member entail? The two committees (OC and TC) each have a different focus, although they work closely at times. The TC is responsible for writing the rules and technical challenges of the SPL and implementing the league's longer-term roadmap year by year. The TC also manages the call for participation and qualification decisions. The time commitment varies depending on the time of year, but the TC usually meets at least once a month and the responsibilities are divided between the committee members. This year will require flexibility and major rule changes as we move to a new platform. The OC helps implement directives from the TC and is responsible for organizational aspects of the league and the RoboCup event. The OC interacts with the Local Organising Committee for the RoboCup event itself to ensure that the physical environment, network, etc. matches the league's needs. The OC also helps organise the running of the SPL at the event, including the game schedule, referee allocation, the collation of results, etc. Like the TC, the time commitment varies, but OC usually meets at least once a month after the call for participation has gone out. The OC is an ideal committee for newer members of our league, who will be participating last year. Nominees to both committees are voted for by the teams but must be approved by the trustees. (The trustees can also appoint members.) The trustees have specifically asked for diversified representation from different geographical regions and teams at different levels of the competition, in addition to other kinds of diversity. You don't have to be an experienced RoboCupper or from an experienced team to join the committees. All we ask is that you have a reasonable expectation of attending the next RoboCup event and will commit to the role for at least the year leading up to that event. (If you might be able to participate for a couple of years, that is even better). By participating you get a chance to reshape the future of our league, develop long-lasting relationships, to help the league operate and improve, to add to your resume, and to genuinely make a difference. Nomination and election process Any member of any team may be nominated. You can nominate yourself, or another person (but ask them first to make sure they are interested in being nominated). To make a nomination, simply email all the execs ( jphanna(a)cs.wisc.edu<mailto:jphanna@cs.wisc.edu>, robocup(a)stefan.seeri.ng<mailto:robocup@stefan.seeri.ng>, and timothy.wiley(a)rmit.edu.au<mailto:timothy.wiley@rmit.edu.au> ) with the following information by Thursday 17 July, 5.00pm (Brazil - Brasilia Standard Time) : Committee (TC or OC)? Nominee’s name: Nominee’s team: Nominee’s email: After nominations have been finalized, the list will be circulated and each team may vote for three preferred nominees for each committee. More instructions will be given when the election opens. We look forward to receiving your nominations. Best regards, Josiah, Stefan, and Timothy (SPL execs)

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Nao Clinic Updates
by Timothy Wiley 11 Jul '25

11 Jul '25

Hello teams, This is an update on our Nao Clinic for this year, based on the most recent information that we have: * This year we will have a small team of volunteers who will be available to repair Nao’s. This means the number of Nao’s that can be repaired will be reduced, and we kindly ask teams not to expect extensive repairs or quick turn-arounds. * Repairs will be largely be for hardware (gears and motors). Replacement circuit boards, sensors are limited. Replacement cameras are not available. * We are expecting to be able to run re-calibration software for replacement joints/motors, but teams may need to assist the clinic team in conducting re-calibration. * If able, we encourage teams to bring older robots as 'donors' that are otherwise not working as a source for additional parts (especially for the more limited replacement parts, i.e., sensors, cameras, etc). * Repairs are free (including out-of-warranty). However, we request that teams bring robots primarily for competition use, and not a general repair backlog, as parts are limited. Regards, Timothy Dr. Timothy Wiley | Lecturer, School of Computing Technologies | RMIT University Building 14, Level 11 (City Campus) | Homepage<https://timothy-wiley.github.io> | RAIsE Hub | AI Innovation Lab<http://rmit.edu.au/ailab> Executive Committee | RoboCup Soccer Standard Platform League (SPL) SPL Website<https://spl.robocup.org> | RoboCup Federation<https://www.robocup.org>

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SPL GameController for RoboCup 2025
by Arne Hasselbring 09 Jul '25

09 Jul '25

Hi, I’m sure many of you have already regularly used the development versions of the GameController from the Git repository, but there is now a (likely) final version available at: https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/GameController3/releases/tag/v5.0.0-rc.3 I recommend reading the release notes, and especially testing the most passes leaderboard mode if you’re participating in that. It handles counting the points (1 click = 1 point, i.e. a „successful pass“ requires two clicks) and calculates the score including the time bonus at the end. For those of you stuck with Ubuntu 20.04 and similarly ancient Linux systems, there is the tauri1 branch which is functionally equivalent but doesn’t require libwebkit2gtk-4.1. I couldn't test it though, good luck! A binary release of the TCM/GameStateVisualizer and other associated tools is also available at: https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/GameController/releases/tag/RoboCup2025 This is also a good time for a final check that the colors in https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/GameController3/blob/master/config/teams.yaml are correct for your team. Bug reports, fixes, questions as usual either as GitHub issues or by email to arha(a)uni-bremen.de I wish everyone a safe trip to Salvador an exciting and successful RoboCup! - Arne

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HULKs Code Usage Announcement
by Alexander Schmidt 06 Jul '25

06 Jul '25

Hello all, We are writing to announce the code usage of Team HULKs for this years RoboCup. We are using bhuman/CompiledNN <https://github.com/bhuman/CompiledNN> for the inference of our ball detection networks. Furthermore, the core concept of our walking engine is inspired by rUNSWift's walking engine. Additionally, we might use the joint angle prediction network from B-Human's 2024 Code Release <https://github.com/bhuman/BHumanCodeRelease>. We would like to thank Team BHuman and Team rUNSWift for their continued contributions to the league. Our codebase, development activity, and discussions are, as usual, fully open source and available under hulks/hulk <https://github.com/HULKs/hulk>. Team HULKs

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🤖 RoboCup SPL 2025 – Newsletter #5
by Caron, Benjamin 30 Jun '25

30 Jun '25

Dear SPL Teams, The RoboCup is just a few days away. In this newsletter, we present the last information you need before the competition. ________________________________ 📘 Final Competition Rules Released The final version of the RoboCup SPL 2025 Rules has now been published. All participating teams are expected to comply with these rules throughout the competition. Please review them carefully and ensure your code and robots are aligned with the latest updates. 📄 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2025> Rules are available here<https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2025> Here is the list of changes that got updated after the prior newsletter: * There are no changes to the main competition. However, in this newsletter, you will find a section that overwrites the rules to accommodate a limited Nao Clinic and to integrate both Challenge Shield and Champion Cup into the same tournament. * Both the KICKin-Rollin Challenge and Leaderboard Challenge received minor updates. These are mostly clarifications, but if you expect to participate, please review them. * Finally, a section has been added to define an overall ranking between the KICKin-Rollin Challenge and Open Research Challenge. ________________________________ 🛠️ Limited Nao Clinic – Temporary Adjustments As announced in the previous newsletter, there will not be a full Nao Clinic as known in past years. However, we can now confirm the presence of a limited Nao Clinic. Repairs will be limited in manpower, spare parts, and diagnostic software. While every effort will be made to support teams, the following measures are in place to minimize robot damage: * All matches until the knockout round will be played with 5 vs. 5 robots. Champions Cup rules still apply for Champions Cup matches. If both teams agree, they can play 7 vs. 7. We expect the knockout round, or at least the final bracket, to be played in 7 vs. 7 for Champions Cup teams. * The pickup rule is loosened. A team may now request a pickup at any time to prevent damage. The head referee can still decline the request if it interferes with play and does not qualify under the regular rule. This flexibility aims to reduce damage, but the rule may be revised if abused. * Assistant referees may catch robots if this does not distract from their primary duties. * Although pushing rules have not changed, everyone, especially head referees, are encouraged to refresh their understanding, as many falls are caused by contact. ________________________________ 🎮 Match Format: Challenge Shield vs. Champions Cup RoboCup 2025 will follow a hybrid match format. When at least one Challenge Shield team is present, Challenge Shield rules apply. Otherwise, Champions Cup rules apply. Key differences for Challenge Shield include: * Team executing a Set Play is sent via the GameController. * The referee must wear red gloves. * All matches are played 5 vs. 5. ________________________________ 🧪 Open Research Challenge – Reminder Teams must submit a brief description of their planned contribution by July 1, 2025 to the Technical Committee (rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org). Multiple contributions per team are allowed. Each submission should include: * Objective: What the innovation is and why it's relevant. * Expected Impact: How it benefits SPL or improves existing systems. * Implementation Feasibility: Required resources and timeline. After the deadline, participation may still be allowed if the schedule permits. Slots will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. You should still submit your interest even after the deadline. ________________________________ 📊 Leaderboard Challenge – Reminder Teams should also send their intention to participate in one or more Leaderboard Challenges by July 1, 2025 to the Technical Committee (rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org). Please include the specific challenges you're targeting. As with the Open Research Challenge, late participation may be accepted if scheduling allows. ________________________________ 🏁 KICKin-Rollin Challenge – Optional Pre-Registration This challenge does not require advance registration, but if you express interest before the competition, it will help us plan appropriately. A registration deadline will be announced during the event. ________________________________ 📜 Pre-Qualification Rules for RoboCup 2026 The following pre-qualification criteria will apply for RoboCup 2026: * Top three teams from the main competition (or four, if the top three include a Challenge Shield team) * Highest-ranked Challenge Shield team if not already qualified * Highest-ranked team not already qualified based on combined results from the Open Research and KICKin-Rollin Challenges ________________________________ ⚽ Extra Balls – Request from LOC The local organizing committee (LOC) was unable to acquire official SPL balls in time. Therefore, we kindly ask teams to bring extra balls from their inventory to serve as official game balls. Please inform the OC if you can contribute at rc-spl-oc(a)lists.robocup.org ________________________________ If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re looking forward to seeing your robots on the field in Salvador! The RoboCup SPL Technical Committee & Organizing Committee

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BHumanCode Usage WisTex United
by Adam Labiosa 19 Jun '25

19 Jun '25

Hello all, I’m writing to announce the use of the BHumanCodeRelease (2023) version for the WisTex United team. We consider our codebase to be derived software as we use the BHuman motion control, localization, perception and communication modules. The specific contribution of our work (taken from our SPL 2025 application) is as follows: Our team codebase for the 2025 competition is based upon the \href{https://github.com/bhuman/BHumanCodeRelease/releases/tag/coderelease2023}{BHuman 2023 code release }. As described below, our primary contribution has been to replace the high level behaviors written by BHuman with new, learned behaviors trained with deep reinforcement learning. As discussed below, we believe these changes to be transformative in nature. Thus, as of now, our robots use the perception, state-estimation, low-level motion control and communication modules provided by BHuman. We thank BHuman for making their full software stack available. Additionally, we used the open source library \textbf{\href{https://github.com/DLR-RM/stable-baselines3}{stable-baselines3}} to train our policies, using proximal policy optimization\cite{https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1707.06347}\cite{stable-ba…. We also note our additions this year are improvements in learned cooperation which substantially changes our code but generally leave the BHuman modules unchanged from their 2023 version. We also will once again release our updated code before the end of the year. Adam

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RedbackBots code announcement
by Timothy Wiley 13 Jun '25

13 Jun '25

Hello SPL Teams, RedbackBots would like to announce the integration of the following contributions from SPL teams as part of our codebase for 2025: * NAO Devils' whistle detection (2024) * Updated to B-Human's vision components (2024) excluding ball detection We thank these teams for their continued and extensive contributions to the Soccer SPL community and look forward to catching up with everyone at competition. Timothy Wiley, on behalf of the RedbackBots team. Dr. Timothy Wiley | Lecturer, School of Computing Technologies | RMIT University Building 14, Level 11 (City Campus) | Homepage<https://timothy-wiley.github.io> | RAIsE Hub | AI Innovation Lab<http://rmit.edu.au/ailab> Executive Committee | RoboCup Soccer Standard Platform League (SPL) SPL Website<https://spl.robocup.org> | RoboCup Federation<https://www.robocup.org>

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🏆 SPL RoboCup 2025 – Updates & Meeting Announcements
by Caron, Benjamin 06 Jun '25

06 Jun '25

Dear SPL Teams, RoboCup 2025 is approaching quickly, and the SPL Technical Committee would like to share a few important updates and reminders: 🤖 SPL-Humanoid Challenge Postponed Due to limited participation from Humanoid League teams, the SPL-Humanoid Challenge “Pass Masters: Bridging the Leagues” has been postponed to 2026. We plan to revisit this initiative at RoboCup and explore ways to increase engagement across leagues. 🛠️ Final Ramp Design Announced The final version of the ramp will follow the RedbackBots design. Teams should expect one extension to be used by default. A second extension may be added at the Technical Committee’s discretion during the competition to compensate for exceptional circumstances, such as unexpectedly high field friction. 🔗 More details and documentation are available here: https://github.com/rmit-computing-technologies/redbackbots-spl-ballramp 🎮 GameController Compatibility Teams are expected to ensure their robots function properly with the latest version of the GameController. 🔗 Download the GameController here: https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/GameController3 🔧 On-Site Robot Repairs Unfortunately, Aldebaran has confirmed they will not provide a NAO clinic at RoboCup 2025. The competition will proceed as planned, but this may lead to rule adjustments to reduce the risk of robot damage. We are still in discussions with Aldebaran to determine whether limited on-site repairs may be possible. In parallel, the trustees are exploring alternatives such as providing a small pool of spare robots and basic parts to enable self-repairs if needed. The Team Leader Meeting on June 14 (11:00 UTC) will include time to discuss this situation. 🧠 Team Leader Meeting 📅 14 June 2025 – 11:00 UTC 📍 SPL Discord – #referee-meeting channel Agenda: * The current situation with Aldebaran and its impact on the league * Discussion on the next robot platform * Open discussion & updates ⚖️ Referee Meeting 📅 21 June 2025 – 11:00 UTC 📍 SPL Discord – #referee-meeting channel Agenda: * Quick overview of the 2025 rules and key changes from last year * Highlighting the “unpenalize” testing mode * Referee needs and delegation opportunities 🔍 The final version of the rules will be published shortly after this meeting. ________________________________ Thank you, SPL Technical Committee

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Save the Date: RoHOW 2025 - November 28–30
by HULKs TUHH 23 Apr '25

23 Apr '25

*Dear RoboCup Teams and Robotics Enthusiasts,* We’re excited to announce that the *12th Robotic Hamburg Open Workshop (RoHOW)* will take place *from November 28 to November 30, 2025* at the *Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH)*! Hosted by the *HULKs*, TUHH’s humanoid robot soccer team, RoHOW is a unique networking and educational event tailored for RoboCup teams and researchers in the field of humanoid robotics. The workshop offers an open platform to exchange insights, share advancements, and dive into in-depth discussions—especially in the context of robot soccer. Our agile and participant-driven program will once again follow the *Open Space Conference* format, allowing for maximum flexibility to match your interests. Expect engaging talks and workshops on topics such as computer vision, locomotion, deep learning, league development, and more. Industry partners and sponsors will also be present to showcase their latest innovations in robotics. 📍 *Save the Date:* 🗓️ *November 28–30, 2025* 📍 *TUHH, Hamburg* 📝 To help us make this year’s event even better, we’d love your feedback on last year’s RoHOW — you can share your thoughts here: https://forms.gle/uLT9UhoV8AhXVvnx9 💸 A *participation fee* will likely apply again this year. The exact amount is yet to be determined. 📬 A separate email with the *registration deadline* and further details will follow soon! We’re looking forward to seeing many of you again and welcoming new faces to RoHOW 2025. Mark your calendars and stay tuned! Best regards, *The HULKs Team* Hamburg University of Technology

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🌍🤖 SPL x Humanoid – Common Challenge Discussion 🤖🌍 - May 3rd - 11:00 UTC
by Caron, Benjamin 22 Apr '25

22 Apr '25

Dear Teams, You're invited to a global community meeting on May 3rd at 11:00 UTC, bringing together teams from the Standard Platform League (SPL) and the Humanoid League (HL) to discuss and establish a common foundation for the joint challenge at RoboCup 2025. 📍 Location: Global RoboCup Discord in "General" voice channel 💬 Join here: https://discord.gg/dcFgqFTeCy 🕒 Time zone help: Time zone converter<https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?qm=1&lid=100,6077243,2950159,3169070,215817…> ________________________________ 🗓️ Discussion Topics * Sharing of image datasets * Cross-league robot coordination for passing * Use of visual gestures for communication * Any other suggestions from participants ________________________________ This meeting is intended to be community-driven, with minimal involvement from the committees. Any outcomes from the discussion will be considered optional agreements, not official rule changes, and it's up to each team to adopt them voluntarily. 📝 Meeting notes will be made publicly available at: https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/ Looking forward to your participation and collaboration! Best regards, The SPL and HL Committees

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RoboCup SPL Newsletter No. 3 2025 - New Challenge and rules updates
by Caron, Benjamin 01 Mar '25

01 Mar '25

Dear SPL Teams, New Challenge - Pass-Masters-Bridging-the-Leagues We are excited to introduce a new challenge this year in collaboration with the Humanoid League! The goal of Pass-Masters is to enable ball passing between a NAO and a Humanoid robot, marking a first step toward inter-league collaboration. For full details, refer to the challenge presentation here<https://spl.robocup.org/wp-content/uploads/Pass-Masters-Bridging-the-League…>. Challenge Update - KICKin-Rollin We have made minor clarifications that do not change the core concept of the challenge. However, we strongly encourage teams to review the updated version, particularly the section on challenge procedures. Ramp Proposal – Deadline Extension The deadline to submit a ramp design is being extended until after the German Open to allow for discussion and potential testing there. There is currently only one proposed ramp design. Meanwhile, any teams who have already tried out that ramp are encouraged to submit any relevant feedback on the following form: https://forms.gle/i4svZeQh4tWD9JnH9 Rulebook - Drop Ball Rule We have made small adjustments to better align with the rule’s intent. The rules now acknowledge that a drop ball does not always require the robots to restart from the sideline, and there are situations, such as Global Game Stuck, where they will resume play from their current positions using a standard Set as they did last year. Best regards, RoboCup SPL TC

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Naova code usage for German Open 2025
by Club Naova 07 Feb '25

07 Feb '25

Dear SPL Teams, In accordance with the terms and conditions of the B-Human code release's license, Naova announces the use of the following B-Human modules for the German Open 2025. - Ball perceptor from 2021 - Referee gesture detection from 2024 We would like to thank the B-Human Team for sharing their code and acknowledge their contribution to the RoboCup SPL. [signature_914140835]Olivier St-Pierre | Étudiant en génie logiciel Capitaine du club scientifique Naova École de technologie supérieure | 1100, rue Notre-Dame Ouest Montréal (Qc) Canada | H3C1K3 Tél. : 438-226-6639| Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/clubnaova/> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/naorobotique/> | Site Web<https://www.clubnaova.ca/>

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RoboCup German Open 2025 - Call for participation - Major Leagues
by Heinrich Mellmann 21 Jan '25

21 Jan '25

RoboCup German Open 2025 Call for Participation - Major Leagues https://robocup.de/german-open NürnbergMesse, Frankenhalle, Germany The 22nd RoboCup German Open 2025 will take place from March 12-16 in Nuremberg. Nuremberg, the second largest city in Bavaria, combines medieval charm with modern vitality. The city is known for its iconic castle, half-timbered houses and old city walls and has great historical significance. The city flourishes as a cultural and innovative centre where history and modern life coexist in a wonderful way. Every regional and international Major team is cordially invited to take part in the event. ----------------- RoboCup Major Leagues (international teams) ----------------- After the team setup on March 12th, the competitions will take place from 13 to 16 March 2025 in the following main leagues: • RoboCupSoccer Standard Platform League • RoboCupSoccer Humanoid League (KidSize and AdultSize) • RoboCupSoccer Small Size League • RoboCupRescue Robot League • RoboCupIndustrial Logistics League • RoboCupIndustrial @Work League • RoboCup@Home Open Platform League Registration opens *** December 15, 2024 *** Registration deadline *** January 31st, 2025 *** Late registration deadline (team members only) *** February 28th, 2025 *** When registration opens, visit https://register.robocup.de to register your RoboCup Major League team. Details on the registration (fee, rules, travel) are available on the website. Teams are advised to make their own accommodation arrangements as early as possible, as places are limited before March 13. ----------------------- RoboCup Junior (German teams) ------------------------- From March 13-16, 2025 the final event of the German RoboCupJunior Championship will be held at RoboCup German Open 2025 in Nuremberg. The best teams that have qualified in the eight previous German qualifying tournaments will take part. The best German Junior teams in the 2025 German Junior Final will qualify for RoboCup 2025 in Brazil and for the European RoboCupJunior Competition 2025 in Italy. --------------------------- Organization Committee ---------------------------- • Oskar von Stryk (General Chair) • Stefan May (Local Chair) • Alexander Ferrein (German RoboCup Committee, Spokesperson Major) The Major Leagues Organizing Committee: • Heinrich Mellmann (Standard Platform League) • Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann (Humanoid League) • Nicolai Ommer (Small Size League) • Johannes Pellenz, Stefan May, Thomas Sander (Rescue Robot League & RMRC) • Sven Wachsmuth (@Home League) • Alexander Ferrein (Logistics League) • Christoph Steup (@Work League) ------------------------------ Co-located Events ------------------------------ Parallel to the RoboCup German Open 2025 the first German Robotics Conference organized by the newly established Robotics Institute Germany (RIG) will take place. The conference will bring together the leading German researchers in AI-based robotics. Also in parallel, the Freizeit Messe will take place, which is one of Germany's largest leisure and lifestyle fairs. It attracts about 70.000 visitors each year. Many participants from both events are expected to visit RoboCup German Open 2025. ------------------------------- Important Dates ------------------------------- • 2024-12-15 Major teams early registration starts • 2025-01-31 Major teams registration deadline, team member registration deadline • 2025-02-28 Late registration deadline (team members only) • 2025-03-12 Set-up day Major League teams • 2025-03-13 to 16 Competition days • 2025-03-16 Major and Junior finals The event is open to the public during all days from 9 am to 5 pm ----------------------------------- Contact ---------------------------------- Please contact germanopen(a)robocup.de for any questions. See you all at the 22nd RoboCup German Open 2025! Best regards, German RoboCup Committee -------------------------------- Acknowledgment ------------------------------- The RoboCup German Open 2025 are supported by the German Federal Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF) within the Robotics Institute Germany under grant number 16ME1001.

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RoboCup SPL Call for Participation 2025 - Deadline Reminder
by Tom Ellis 16 Jan '25

16 Jan '25

Call for Participation Reminder RoboCup 2025 Standard Platform League Hi RoboCuppers, Just a quick reminder that all applications for the 2025 RoboCup SPL Competition, with the relevant qualification material, must be submitted by 17th of February 2025, just over 1 month from now! Full Application Details can be found at spl.robocup.org/call-for-participation-2025<https://spl.robocup.org/call-for-participation-2025/> Tom Ellis, on behalf of the RoboCup 2025 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees

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Survey on RoboCup Standard Platform League Research Contributions
by Josiah Hanna 16 Jan '25

16 Jan '25

Dear SPL Teams, We, the RoboCup SPL Executive Committee, would like to understand how SPL teams have contributed to the broader robotics, AI, and RoboCup community. We request that a member from each SPL team please complete the following survey: https://forms.gle/EuYcEbZCx8ivxpL6A The survey asks each team to report on different types of contributions to robotics research, education, and RoboCup. It also asks for your input on recognizing and incentivizing activities beyond winning the annual competition. We would appreciate your response by Monday, January 6. Thank you for taking the time. Thanks, Josiah Hanna (on behalf of the SPL Exec committee)

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RoboCup SPL Call for Participation 2025
by Tom Ellis 18 Dec '24

18 Dec '24

Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2025 Standard Platform League spl.robocup.org<https://spl.robocup.org/> Tuesday 15th July through Monday 21th July 2025 Salvador, Brazil 2025.robocup.org<https://2025.robocup.org/> RoboCup<https://www.robocup.org/> is an international initiative that fosters research and education in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions (RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupIndustrial, RoboCupJunior) involving mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCupSoccer currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. The Standard Platform League (SPL) is characterized by all the teams using an identical robot platform. Participating researchers focus on algorithmic development for fully autonomous robots in the main competition while developing individual skills measured in various technical challenges. The SPL robot soccer team competition games at RoboCup 2025 will be played between teams of fully autonomous NAO robots. Participating teams may use V6, V5 or older versions of the NAO humanoid robot manufactured by Aldebaran<https://www.aldebaran.com/en/nao>. Teams should be able to play on a randomly assigned field within one hour. The RoboCup 2025 SPL will host a soccer team competition, several technical challenges and introduce longterm leaderboards, detailed below. The soccer team competition will consist of a number of games that is similar to recent years for most teams. The draft rule book for 2025 is available on on the downloads page<https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2025>. The league operates two divisions: Champions Cup (CC) and Challenge Shield (CS). Teams in the Champions Cup division will compete in matches with up to 7 robots per team. Teams in the Challenge Shield division will compete in matches with up to 5 robots per team. All teams are encouraged to compete in one or more challenges in addition to the main soccer competition. There will be several challenges in 2025 in addition to the main soccer team competition: · The ’KICKin & Rollin’ Challenge, a standard out-of-game technical challenge designed to encourage teams to develop the best way to kick a rolling ball. · An open research challenge will be held to showcase innovations that contribute to the growth, development, and improvement of the league, beyond the core competition objectives. · There is a planned cross-league challenge to be conducted with the cooperation of the humanoid-league, similar to the 2021 passing challenge, additional details to follow as they are finalised. · Starting in 2025, several long-term leaderboards will be introduced to track and compare team performances across key skills over multiple years. These leaderboards aim to motivate teams to improve in specific areas deemed valuable by the league and to compile a record of the top-performing components and skills. More details regarding the challenges are given in the rule book<https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2025> Joining the League The league is always ready to welcome new teams. If you are considering joining: the league has prepared information for you<https://spl.robocup.org/joining-robocup-spl/> to support you in your first steps. We encourage you to contact the organizing committees and other teams if you have questions. To assist in adoption of NAO V6 robots, source code examples and documentation regarding V6 robots were published on the SPL website<https://spl.robocup.org/v6-support/>. One can also find example code for V6 robots in the code released by participating teams. If you need access to the RoboCup NAOqi Image and the specific documentation, please write an email (mentioning your team affiliation and plans) to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org<mailto:rc-spl-tc@lists.robocup.org>. Qualification All interested teams that are not pre-qualified must apply by sending an email to the Technical Committee (see below). A valid application must contain: 1. Team Description Paper: See below. The TDP must be attached as PDF file to the email. 2. Preference to compete in the Champions Cup or Challenge Shield: State whether you prefer to compete in CC or CS. If you prefer to compete in CS, please state if you would accept an assignment to CC to balance the competition. 3. Video presentation: Include a link to a video (maximum 5 minutes long, uploaded on the team’s web site or on some video server) that demonstrates the status of the team. The organizing committees use the video to determine the readiness of the team to compete effectively, and hence should focus on the team’s ability to play soccer. Teams who did not participate in the team competition at RoboCup 2024 must include footage of at least one robot attempting to kick off and score (this footage must be captured as a single wide shot with no cuts). If robots from multiple teams are active in the footage (e.g., game footage), please include a textual overlay or additional document denoting which robots belong to the applying team for every scene. Videos of simulation contributions will also be accepted, but only when a real robot is unavailable. Preference will be given to teams that use real robots to show soccer skills in their video. 4. Robot purchase plans: State how many NAO robots your team plans to buy this year. Pre-Qualification Teams that finished in the top 3 of either the Champions Cup or Challenge Shield divisions or finished in the top 5 of the technical challenge at RoboCup 2024 are pre-qualified for RoboCup 2025, if they submit a valid application as detailed below. The following teams can make use of pre-qualification: · Bembelbots · B-Human · HTWK Robots · Nao Devils · RedbackBots · RoboEireann · R-ZWEI KICKERS · SPQR Team · WisTex United A valid application for pre-qualified teams must contain all of the content mentioned above, without the need to provide a video presentation. If a joint 2024 team splits, only one team can be pre-qualified for 2025 (please indicate which one). Team Description Paper Both regular and pre-qualified teams must submit a team description paper (TDP) attached as PDF file to their application email. For the TDP to be considered, it must: · be named according to the pattern SPL_2025_TDP_<TeamName>.pdf · be formatted according to the Springer LNCS author guidelines <https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…> . · be no longer than 8 pages (including references). · be structured in the following sections with the specified headings: 1. Team Information: · team name (the one true spelling, considering capitalization, spaces, hyphens, etc.) · team leader(s) · team contact email address · team website URL (if available) · country of origin · university/company affiliation(s) of the team 2. Code Usage: Acknowledge the team’s use of any other team’s code (1) previously from 2020 to present and (2) anticipated at RoboCup 2025. If code is used from other teams, is this code integrated into a code base that is mainly designed by the applying team? If the applying team does not use any other team’s code, state so. For further details, please have a look into the rule book, section A.1<https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2025>. 3. Own Contribution: Describe in detail the ‘research publishable’ significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2025, in accordance with the rule book, section A.1<https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2025>. 4. Unpublished Results: Provide game results in RoboCup Regional Open competitions as well as main RoboCup competitions from 2020 onward that are not already published on the SPL website<https://spl.robocup.org/>. Include opponents and game scores from each competition in a table. State if the team plans to participate in any RoboCup Open competitions or friendlies prior to RoboCup 2025. 5. Impact: What is the impact of the team’s participation and research in RoboCup on (1) the SPL, (2) the team’s university/community? 6. Other: Present any other information that you believe supports your application. Please note that the TDP is not a peer-reviewed publication and will not appear in any collection apart from the RoboCup TDP archive<https://tdp.robocup.org/>. Qualification for Regional Opens Only Teams may also submit a short intent to participate in a regional open if they do not wish to participate in the 2025 RoboCup competition. Although teams may participate in regional opens without submitting this intent to participate, teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified may be eligible for future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for teams competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced as soon as offers and conditions are finalized. Teams must submit the following information by 17th of February 2025: (1) The team name, leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team and (2) a short statement describing the status/progress of the team. A link to a short video showing robot soccer behaviours and/or game play (using robots or in simulation) may be included if available. Submission and Evaluation All applications with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by 17th of February 2025, by email to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org<mailto:rc-spl-tc@lists.robocup.org>. Please use a subject matching the pattern RoboCup 2025 Application <team name>. Applications must not be sent to personal SPL TC/OC email addresses and must not contain video attachments. By submitting your application, you grant the SPL committees the rights to publish the TDP and application video / code release link. Note that applying serves as a statement of commitment to participate in the RoboCup 2025 SPL. If you have doubts regarding the ability of your team to participate (due to funding, visas, etc.), please apply by the deadline but note this in your application email. Declining to participate in any competition after the official early registration period has opened may negatively affect future applications (the later you decline, the worse it will affect future applications). Teams are encouraged to consider joint participation. Joint proposals will be judged on combined merit. Applications will be evaluated by criteria which include: 1. Potential to play competitive games at RoboCup 2025 (demonstrated ability to play soccer, previous results, etc.) 2. Contributions (and potential contributions) to league (code releases/papers, active in organization, developing own code, etc.) 3. Diversity (region, team make-up, unique characteristics, etc.) Since 2023 the competition rules require all teams to release the source code for novel contributions. This ensures that all teams can learn from good solutions and all teams are driven to make improvements each year. More details regarding code releases are given in the rule book<https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2025>. All teams can expect to be required to publish a contribution. As part of the application phase teams will be assigned into the CC and CS divisions. Assignments will be judged based on previous performance and application material. The organizing committees will do their best to honor teams’ preferences. However, the necessity might arise to assign teams into divisions against their preference. All teams applying for CC are expected to be able to compete in CS. Teams will be notified during the application phase if they are assigned into a division against their preference Qualification decisions, including alternate lists, will be announced by 3rd of March 2025. Robot Acquisition Teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified will be eligible for potential future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for team competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced if offers and conditions are finalized. Tom Ellis, On behalf of the RoboCup 2025 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees

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RoboCup Global Discord Server
by Francesco Petri 10 Dec '24

10 Dec '24

Dear SPL Teams, we now have an official server for RoboCup as a whole. While we plan to keep discussion related to the SPL on the usual channels (including the existing mailing lists), you can use this new one to connect with the greater community, share ideas, and hear general announcements regarding RoboCup in general. It is a broader avenue of communication available to you, and it will not replace the current SPL Discord server. Join the official RoboCup Community server here: https://discord.gg/dcFgqFTeCy If you do, make sure you click on "Channels & Roles" and set the SPL role for yourselves in order to access the SPL text channel. Best, Francesco

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HTWK Robots Code Release 2024
by Nao-Team HTWK 16 Oct '24

16 Oct '24

Dear SPL Teams, at RoboCup 2024 we heard of interest of our current walking engine. Thus, we are publishing the current state of our walking engine as used at RoboCup 2024 at https://github.com/NaoHTWK/HTWKMotion.git . In addition, you can find the release of our Shared Autonomy code at https://github.com/NaoHTWK/2024_SharedAutonomyChallange.git . Best regards, Team HTWK Robots.

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R-ZWEI Kickers Code Release 2024
by Wilhelm Simus 16 Oct '24

16 Oct '24

Good evening, the R-ZWEI Kickers would like to release their code used in competition and challenges (and cleaned up a bit afterwards) in 2024. You can find our release here: https://github.com/AK-Smart-Machines-HS-KL/R-ZWEI-Kickers-Code-Releases Should you wish to follow more recent developments, we're also full open source in this repository: https://github.com/AK-Smart-Machines-HS-KL/R2K-SPL Kind regards, Wilhelm Simus (Cpt. of R-ZWEI Kickers)

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NomadZ 2024 Code Release
by Li Zichong 16 Oct '24

16 Oct '24

Dear SPL Teams, we hereby announce the availability of our 2024 code release: https://github.com/nomadz-ethz/nomadz-code-release Best regards, Zichong

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Nao Devils Code Release 2024
by ETIT, DS, Nao Devils 15 Oct '24

15 Oct '24

Hello everyone, we hereby announce the Nao Devils Code Release 2024 available at: https://github.com/NaoDevils/CodeRelease/tree/CodeRelease2024 Furthermore, our code release of the Shared Autonomy Challenge can be found at: https://github.com/NaoDevils/CodeRelease/tree/CodeRelease2024SAC It represents the state of the official competition and contains everything required for a match. <https://github.com/NaoDevils/CodeRelease/tree/CodeRelease2023>Our image generator is also available at: https://github.com/NaoDevils/NaoImage/ If you want a prebuilt .opn file of our code release, write us a short mail! Best greetings from Dortmund, Team Nao Devils -- Nao Devils RoboCup Standard Platform Soccer Team TU Dortmund University Otto-Hahn-Str. 8 44227 Dortmund, Germany naodevils.etit(a)tu-dortmund.de <mailto:naodevils.etit@tu-dortmund.de>https://naodevils.de/ Phone: +49 231 755 7047 Fax: +49 231 755 3251 Important note: The information included in this e-mail is confidential. It is solely intended for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail please contact the sender and delete this message. Thank you. Without prejudice of e-mail correspondence, our statements are only legally binding when they are made in the conventional written form (with personal signature) or when such documents are sent by fax. Wichtiger Hinweis: Die Information in dieser E-Mail ist vertraulich. Sie ist ausschließlich für den Adressaten bestimmt. Sollten Sie nicht der für diese E-Mail bestimmte Adressat sein, unterrichten Sie bitte den Absender und vernichten Sie diese Mail. Vielen Dank. Unbeschadet der Korrespondenz per E-Mail, sind unsere Erklärungen ausschließlich final rechtsverbindlich, wenn sie in herkömmlicher Schriftform (mit eigenhändiger Unterschrift) oder durch Übermittlung eines solchen Schriftstücks per Telefax erfolgen. Important note: The information included in this e-mail is confidential. It is solely intended for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail please contact the sender and delete this message. Thank you. Without prejudice of e-mail correspondence, our statements are only legally binding when they are made in the conventional written form (with personal signature) or when such documents are sent by fax.

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B-Human Code Release 2024
by Thomas Röfer 15 Oct '24

15 Oct '24

Hi RoboCuppers! The team B-Human announces the availability of our 2024 code release at https://github.com/bhuman/BHumanCodeRelease This is the complete B-Human code release! The software released is a cleaned-up version of the system we used in the 2024 competitions. This is the whole system, i.e the soccer code and the code used in the technical challenge, together with a detailed documentation (found at https://docs.b-human.de/coderelease2024). You can run the code of the 2024 world champion at home! If you just want to do practice matches against our code, you can also download a ready-to-run image from https://b-human.informatik.uni-bremen.de/public/image2024 Our software is released with its own 3-D simulator. Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS are fully supported. We strongly believe in sharing the developments in our league. Have fun :-) Team B-Human

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B-Human Code Release 2023
by Thomas Röfer 15 Oct '24

15 Oct '24

Hi RoboCuppers! The team B-Human announces the availability of our 2023 code release at https://github.com/bhuman/BHumanCodeRelease This is the complete B-Human code release! The software released is a cleaned-up version of the system we used in the 2023 competitions. This is the whole system, i.e the soccer code and the code used in the technical challenges (one as a patch), together with a detailed documentation. You can run the code of the 2023 world champion at home! If you just want to do practice matches against our code, you can also download a ready-to-run image from https://b-human.informatik.uni-bremen.de/public/image2023 Our software is released with its own 3-D simulator. Microsoft Windows 64 bit, Linux 64 bit, and macOS are fully supported. We strongly believe in sharing the developments in our league. Have fun :-) Team B-Human

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WisTex United Code Release 2024
by WILLIAM CONG 15 Oct '24

15 Oct '24

Hi all, The code release for WisTex United can be found here: 1. https://github.com/wistex-united/wistex-system-2024 2. https://github.com/wistex-united/abstract-sim-2024 Thanks, WisTex United

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RedbackBots Code & GameSight Releases
by Timothy Wiley 15 Oct '24

15 Oct '24

Dear SPL Teams, We are please to announce our 2024 Code Release is available at: https://github.com/rmit-computing-technologies/redbackbots-coderelease Our corresponding Team Report for 2024 is available in the repository at: https://github.com/rmit-computing-technologies/redbackbots-coderelease/blob… We are also please to announce that we have released GameSight - our Augmented Reality Visualiser as demonstrated during the 2024 competition, at: https://github.com/rmit-computing-technologies/redbackbots-gamesight GameSight can be run from a pre-built APK, available from the above location, or compiled from source. While we presently waiting on approval from Meta to publish GameSight in the App Lab publicly, however, we are happy to add teams as “beta testers”. Please feel free to contact our team for beta access. Kind Regards, Timothy Wiley On behalf of the RedbackBots Team. Dr. Timothy Wiley | Lecturer, School of Computing Technologies | RMIT University Building 14, Level 11 (City Campus) | Homepage<https://timothy-wiley.github.io> | CIAIRI<https://www.rmit.edu.au/research/centres-collaborations/centre-for-industri…> | AI Innovation Lab<http://rmit.edu.au/ailab> Executive Committee | RoboCup Soccer Standard Platform League (SPL) SPL Website<https://spl.robocup.org> | RoboCup Federation<https://www.robocup.org>

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RoboEireann Code Release 2024
by Rudi Villing 15 Oct '24

15 Oct '24

Dear RoboCup SPL Teams, We hereby announce the availability of our 2024 Code Release at: https://github.com/roboeireann/RoboEireannCodeRelease This is the complete code release representing the state of the code as of the end of RoboCup 2024 with some minor tidy up. It has everything required to run a game. Best regards, Rudi (on behalf of RoboEireann)

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SPQR 2024 Code Release
by Vincenzo Suriani 15 Oct '24

15 Oct '24

Dear RoboCup SPL teams, We announce the release of our 2024 code based on the B-Human 2021 code release. The code is available at the following link: https://github.com/SPQRTeam/spqr2024 We take this opportunity to thank the B-Human Team for their contribution to the league. Kind regards, Vincenzo Suriani - on behalf of the SPQR Team

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Dutch Nao Team Code Release 2024
by Harold Ruiter 15 Oct '24

15 Oct '24

Hey everyone, I'd like to inform you that our codebase used during RoboCup 2024 can be found here: https://github.com/IntelligentRoboticsLab/dnt-code-release Best regards, Harold (on behalf of the Dutch Nao Team)

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Bembelbots Code Release 2024
by Jens-Michael Siegl 14 Oct '24

14 Oct '24

Dear SPL Teams, we updated our code release for RoboCup 2024. Our soccer framework and the controller for the Shared Autonomy Challenge can be found on GitHub at: https://github.com/Bembelbots/BembelSoccer/tree/coderelease-2024 Best, Jens / Bembelbots

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SabanaHerons code release 2024
by Jorge Alberto Castellanos Rivillas 13 Oct '24

13 Oct '24

Hello everyone, I wanted to inform you that our code release for 2024 can be found at the following link: https://github.com/JorgeCastellanosR/SabanaHerons_2024 Cordialmente, [cid:de172d42-f439-4fb5-9008-92f2cab1be35] [Unisabana] En cumplimiento de la Ley 1581 de 2012 y sus decretos reglamentarios, la Universidad de La Sabana ha implementado mecanismos para contar con la autorización de cada uno de los titulares de la información que reposa en sus bases de datos y archivos físicos. La persona que por este medio remita datos de carácter personal manifiesta que es el titular de los mismos (o se encuentra debidamente autorizado por el respectivo titular) y que autoriza su tratamiento de acuerdo con la política de protección de datos de la Universidad de La Sabana y presta su consentimiento para que la información suministrada pase a formar parte de una base de datos, cuyo responsable es la Universidad de La Sabana. Así mismo, quien por este medio reciba datos de carácter personal se compromete a no revelar, transferir, ceder o de otra forma comunicar las bases de datos o datos contenidos en ellas, ya sea verbalmente o por escrito, por medios electrónicos, papel o mediante acceso informático, ni siquiera para su conservación, a otras personas y a tratarlos única y exclusivamente para los fines señalados por la Universidad de La Sabana y de acuerdo con sus instrucciones. Los titulares de los datos podrán ejercer los derechos de acceso, corrección, supresión, revocación o reclamo, mediante escrito dirigido a la UNIVERSIDAD DE LA SABANA a la dirección de correo electrónico protecciondedatos(a)unisabana.edu.co, o a través de correo ordinario remitido a la dirección Campus del Puente del Común, Km.7 Autopista Norte de Bogotá, Chia (Cundinamarca), atendiendo los requisitos para el trámite de consultas y reclamos establecidos en la política de protección de datos de la universidad a la cual podrá tener acceso en la página web https://www.unisabana.edu.co/nosotros/politica-de-proteccion-de-datos/. ************NOTICIA DE CONFIDENCIALIDAD***************** Este mensaje (incluyendo cualquier anexo) contiene información confidencial y se encuentra protegido por la Ley. Esta información sólo puede ser utilizada por la persona o compañía a la cual está dirigida. Si usted no es el receptor autorizado, o por error recibe este mensaje, favor borrarlo inmediatamente. Cualquier retención, difusión, distribución o cualquier acción no autorizada previamente, se encuentra estrictamente prohibida. Universidad De La Sabana. <http://www.unisabana.edu.co>

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RoboCup SPL Newsletter No. 2 2025 - Preliminary rule change announcement
by Caron, Benjamin 11 Oct '24

11 Oct '24

Dear SPL Teams, Code Release by October 15 This is a reminder that teams who participated in RoboCup 2024 need to publish and announce this at robocup-nao(a)lists.robocup.org<mailto:robocup-nao@lists.robocup.org> by October 15, 2024. Teams who are developing fully open source also need to make the announcement. For reference, see the section A.7 from the rulebook. Shared Autonomous Challenge Code Release Teams who participated in the Shared Autonomous Challenge must also release both the robot code and the interface code developed for the human-operated robot by October 15, 2024. For more information, see section 2.2.10 of the Technical Challenge rulebook. Major rules change for Champion Cup 2025 The Technical Committee (TC) has reviewed feedback from team leaders and suggestions for rule changes. Based on these discussions, the following changes are planned for the 2025 competition: * New Visual Referee Signal for Set Play: Referees will now give a visual signal to indicate which team is performing a Set Play. While the GameController will still send the type of Set Play, it will no longer reveal which team is executing it. * Red Gloves: The referee will no longer use red gloves or any mandatory visual clues to perform the visual signal. * Ready Signal Delay: The delay for the Ready signal from GameController will be 45 seconds, so an Initial Ready signal won't be sent. The Motion In Standby penalty will be updated. * Message Budget Count: Packet messages will now begin being counted from the Standby state. * Direct Kicks: Failing to execute a set play on time gives opposing team one direct kick chance to score. This change is meant to encourage teams to better detect in-game visual signals. * Game Flow Adjustments: Includes a drop ball rule, end of half when the ball comes to a full stop, and early penalty abort option for mistakes. * Glicko Rating Adjustments: The Glicko rating system will now take into account additional factors, such as participation in the Technical Challenges or forking a code base from another team. Major rules change for Challenge Shield 2025 Teams participating in the Challenge Shield should expect to follow most of the rules from this year’s Champion Cup, with some adjustments based on lessons learned (e.g., updates to the Motion In Standby penalty) and minor changes from the 2025 Champions Cup. More details will be provided in the next newsletter. Technical Challenges 2025 * Open Challenge: More information will be released soon. * Kicking a Rolling Ball: Teams are required to kick a ball that rolls down a ramp. * Additional Challenge: A third, inter-league connecting challenge may be introduced, pending further internal discussions. New Skill Leaderboard Starting with this year, the TC will introduce a skill leaderboard, allowing teams to record and compare specific skills over time and across teams. Skills may include categories such as the fastest walk, the strongest kick, and more. Teams are welcome to submit suggestions for skills they would like to see evaluated. Final notes Please reach out by email or on Discord for any questions or comments. These changes will be drafted in the following weeks and made available on SPL website. Best regards, RoboCup SPL TC

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[HULKs] Code Release Shared Autonomy Challenge
by Vivienne Elisa Schwabe 07 Oct '24

07 Oct '24

Dear SPL community, the HULKs code for the Shared Autonomy Challenge can be found here: https://github.com/Narcha/hulk/tree/remote-control-fixes Best regards, Vivienne (on behalf of Team HULKs)

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Naova code release for shared autonomy challenge
by Club Naova 04 Oct '24

04 Oct '24

Hello everyone, I wanted to inform you that our code release for the shared autonomy challenge can be found at the following link: https://github.com/Naova/NaovaRelease/tree/shared-autonomy-2024 Kind regards, [signature_914140835]Olivier St-Pierre | Étudiant en génie logiciel Capitaine du club scientifique Naova École de Technologie Supérieure | 1100, rue Notre-Dame Ouest Montréal (Qc) Canada | H3C1K3 Tél. : 438-226-6639| Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/clubnaova/> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/naorobotique/> | Site Web<https://www.clubnaova.ca/>

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Call for contribution - Workshop on Humanoid Soccer Robots (WHSR 2024)
by Gregoire Passault 04 Oct '24

04 Oct '24

Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce the opening of the call for contributions to the 2024 edition of the Workshop on Humanoid Soccer Robots (WHSR) , which will be held over a full day during IEEE Humanoids 2024 ( [ https://2024.ieee-humanoids.org/ | https://2024.ieee-humanoids.org/ ] ), Nancy, France Playing soccer is a challenging task and an ideal testbed for humanoid robotics, fostering many multidisciplinary research. The topics range from prototyping new humanoid robots with a robust bipedal locomotion to high level strategy decision making. Full details are available on the website : [ https://whsr-2024.github.io/ | https://whsr-2024.github.io/ ] The workshop will include presentations by two guest speakers: Antonin Raffin from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), who developed Stable-Baselines3, and Rémi Cadene from Hugging Face. Topics Humanoid robots prototyping, Motion planning and control, Perception, Localization, Bipedal locomotion, 3D simulation of humanoid robots, Team coordination, Skill and strategy learning, Dynamic motions, Heterogeneous humanoid robots, Autonomous decisions, Machine learning for robotics Submission instructions Authors are invited to submit full-length extended abstract (up to 2 pages) written in English, and formatted using the IEEE templates. They can present ongoing work, recent results and future directions. Papers accepted by Humanoids 2024 may also be submitted. The submission platform will be soon available on [ https://whsr-2024.github.io/ | https://whsr-2024.github.io/ ] * Submission deadline: October 6, 2024 * Notification of acceptance: October 16, 202 * Workshop date : November 22, 2024 Contact For all questions, please contact the main organizers: [ mailto:gregoire.passault@u-bordeaux.fr | gregoire.passault(a)u-bordeaux.fr ] or [ mailto:melodie.daniel@u-bordeaux.fr | melodie.daniel(a)u-bordeaux.fr ] Best regards, The Humanoid Soccer Robots Workshop organizing committee Mélodie Daniel (University of Bordeaux, France) Grégoire Passault, (University of Bordeaux, France) Alessandra Rossi, (University of Hertfordshire, UK) Sven Behnke (University of Bonn, Germany)

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Code Release / Challenge Code Release reminder
by Caron, Benjamin 02 Oct '24

02 Oct '24

Dear SPL Teams, Code Release by October 15 This is a reminder that teams who participated in RoboCup 2024 need to publish and announce this at robocup-nao(a)lists.robocup.org<mailto:robocup-nao@lists.robocup.org> by October 15, 2024. Teams who are developing fully open source also need to make the announcement. For reference, see the section A.7 from the rulebook. Challenge Code Release Teams who participated in the Shared Autonomous Challenge also need to release code developed for the human-operated robot (both robot code and interface code). For more information, see section 2.2.10 of the Technical Challenge rulebook. Best regards, RoboCup SPL TC

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[HULKs] Code Release
by Ole Felber 01 Oct '24

01 Oct '24

Dear SPL community, the HULKs codebase is completely open source since 2022. The code used during the RoboCup 2024 tournament can be found here: https://github.com/HULKs/hulk/releases/tag/robocup2024. Best Regards Ole (on behalf of Team HULKs)

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Berlin-United Code Release 2024
by Heinrich Mellmann 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

Dear RoboCup SPL Teams, here you can find the release of our code from the RC2023 competition with minor fixes and cleanups: https://github.com/BerlinUnited/NaoTH/releases/tag/release/rc2024 We are doing a rolling release: our stable 'develop' brunch is continuously automatically made public. So you are welcome to drop by from time to time for new updates :) https://github.com/BerlinUnited/NaoTH Cheers, - Heinrich on Behalf of the Team "Berlin United"

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[Save the Date] 🤖 RoboCup GermanOpen 2025 🤖
by Heinrich Mellmann 13 Sep '24

13 Sep '24

Dear SPL Teams, we have received first infos regarding the RoboCup GermanOpen 2025. Save the dates in your calendar! - Where: Frankenhalle, Messe Nürnberg, Germany - When: 12.03.2025 - 16.03.2025 Tentative schedule: 12.03.2025 - setup major teams 13.03.2025 - competition day 1 / setup junior teams 14.03.2025 - competition day 2 15.03.2025 - competition day 3 16.03.2025 - finals + award ceremonies major and junior More info and an official call will be coming soon. Best, - Heinrich -- Dipl.-Math., Dipl.-Inf. Heinrich Mellmann Institut für Informatik Adaptive Systeme (RUD25, Raum 3.110) Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Unter den Linden 6 Telefon: +49 (0)30 2093-41173 10099 Berlin E-mail: mellmann(a)informatik.hu-berlin.de URL: http://www.heinrich-mellmann.de http://berlin-united.de

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Clarification on Publishing Competition Data Sets
by Timothy Wiley 12 Sep '24

12 Sep '24

Hello SPL Teams, We, the exec, would like to provide clarity on teams publishing data sets that have been collected at competition, such as, data sets containing audio/video logged from robots during competition games. In consultation with the Trustees, we are able to advise that teams are able to publish such data sets. The data sets may include recordings of participants and audience. Competition participants during registration, and public visitors when purchasing ticket, consent that they may be recorded, and consent that such recordings made available through team materials. In publishing data sets, we would encourage teams to consider taking additional steps such as: * Processing and curating the data set for potential inappropriate content, which could include: * Screening of sound to remove inadvertent identifying (or embarrassing) audio. * Blurring faces of people in videos, especially children. * Providing a mechanism by which people could request to be removed from the data set. Kind Regards, Timothy Wiley On behalf of the RoboCup Soccer SPL Executive Committee. Dr. Timothy Wiley | Executive Committee | RoboCup Soccer Standard Platform League (SPL) SPL Website<https://spl.robocup.org> | RoboCup Federation<https://www.robocup.org> Lecturer, School of Computing Technologies | RMIT University Building 14, Level 11 (City Campus) | Homepage<https://timothy-wiley.github.io/> | CIAIRI<https://www.rmit.edu.au/research/centres-collaborations/centre-for-industri…> | AI Innovation Lab<http://rmit.edu.au/ailab>

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TR : RoboCup SPL Newsletter No. 1 2025
by Caron, Benjamin 02 Sep '24

02 Sep '24

Dear SPL Teams, Code Release by October 15 This is a reminder that teams who participated in RoboCup 2024 need to publish and announce this at robocup-nao(a)lists.robocup.org<mailto:robocup-nao@lists.robocup.org> by October 15, 2024. Teams who are developing fully open source also need to make the announcement. For reference, see the section A.7 from the rulebook. League Advancement Survey Result Results of the league advancement survey are attached to this newsletter. 14 teams filled this form. 8 Champions Cup teams answered, along with 6 teams from Challenge Shield. Teams are invited to discuss these results on Discord in the channel #rule-book<https://discord.com/channels/721967993860521996/723447525230510101> . The TC will consider any input from this into their discussion. RoboCup 2024 Champions Cup Survey The OC would like to receive some feedback on the Champions Cup tournament structure used during RoboCup 2024. Complete this form<https://forms.gle/VsbEHL8CyvFTbzEe9> to help us improve RoboCup 2025. SPL Schedule Communication Survey The OC would appreciate your input on how we can ensure everyone is informed and up to date on the game schedule during upcoming competitions. Kindly, fill out this survey<https://forms.gle/97rYHnri3r5wuqAv8> <https://forms.gle/97rYHnri3r5wuqAv8> to help us keep competitions running smoothly for all. Best regards, RoboCup SPL TC and O

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Naova code release 2024
by Club Naova 01 Sep '24

01 Sep '24

Hello everyone, I wanted to inform you that our code release for 2024 can be found at the following link: https://github.com/Naova/NaovaRelease Kind regards, [signature_914140835]Marc-Olivier Bisson | Étudiant en génie logiciel Co-Capitaine du club scientifique Naova École de Technologie Supérieure | 1100, rue Notre-Dame Ouest Montréal (Qc) Canada | H3C1K3 Tél. : 514-622-1490 | Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/clubnaova/> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/naorobotique/> | Site Web<https://www.clubnaova.ca/>

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[Save the Date] RoHOW 2024
by Ole Felber 13 Aug '24

13 Aug '24

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rUNSWift 2024 full public code release is available
by Mikhail Asavkin 05 Aug '24

05 Aug '24

Hello, I'd like to let you know that the full rUNSWift 2024 code release (now includes full source code including behaviours, ML models, tools, etc) is available here. https://github.com/UNSWComputing/rUNSWift-2024-release Kind regards, Mikhail.

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RoboCup 2024 Schedule
by Tom Ellis 14 Jul '24

14 Jul '24

Hi RoboCuppers! The time is finally here! RoboCup 2024 is about to start! RoboCup 2024 App This year's RoboCup will have a supporting app for participants and visitors. You can download it here: https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/robocup/id6502951976 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nl.robocup.app<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nl.robocup.app&authuser=0> Game schedules and results will be published on the app and the SPL website. If there is a disparity, refer to the website for the latest info. Tournament Modes As mentioned previously, the 10 teams in the Champions Cup will be starting with 8 Swiss-style rounds seeding into a single elimination bracket for the top 8 teams. The Glicko ratings for the initial pairings are: B-Human 2463.730153 HTWK Robots 1959.352391 RoboEireann 1811.682166 rUNSWift 1739.408303 Nao Devils 1723.811303 HULKs 1616.214384 SPQR Team 1456.623975 Berlin United 1389.653599 Bembelbots 1357.925412 NomadZ 1278.856467 With the Challenge Shield having 6 teams, there will be an initial 5-round round-robin seeding all 6 teams into a double elimination bracket. For those unfamiliar, in a double elimination bracket, you need to be defeated twice in order to be knocked out. Game Schedule Round 1 will begin Wednesday morning, with about 2 rounds per day until the finals on Sunday. Technical challenges will be held at the end of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Some games will have interleaved refereeing, these games are overlapped on the schedule. If any teams have any concerns about their ability to referee the games as scheduled, please let us know as soon as possible. Team leader meetings have been tentatively placed into the schedule, but this may change, keep an eye on the announcements channel in the discord for updates. You can see the game schedule here: https://spl.robocup.org/schedule-2024 Technical Challenge As a reminder, teams need to submit their slide/s documenting their approach to the Shared Autonomy Challenge before the first day of the challenge (Wednesday). See you soon! Tom Ellis on behalf of the RoboCup OC & TC

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Humanoid soccer Workshop in November ? (@Humanoids2024 IEEE)
by Gregoire Passault 12 Jul '24

12 Jul '24

Dear all, The Humanoids IEEE 2024 conference will happen in Nancy, France in november: [ https://2024.ieee-humanoids.org/ | https://2024.ieee-humanoids.org/ ] It is possible to apply to organize a workshop there. I come to you all with the proposition of applying for a " Humanoid soccer", where we could meet and discuss with the community. Please reply to this email if you would be interrested in participating and/or presenting in such a workshop ! If we manage to gather enough interrests, I can take care of the submission, which deadline is the 17th of july . I know it is short notice, but I believe the opportunity to be interresting. I only need statement of interrests for now, even if you are not absolutely sure you will be able to attend. I sent the same e-mail yesterday to the Humanoid's newsletter and already got some responses I wish you all a good RoboCup! Best regards, Grégoire Passault

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New SPL Commitee nominations
by Patrick Göttsch 03 Jul '24

03 Jul '24

Dear SPL Teams, *TL;DR * This is a call for nominations to the SPL organizing committee (OC) and technical committee (TC). Without the work that these committees do, RoboCup SPL would not be possible. Both committees need new members and generally require 4-5 members each. We ask that all teams nominate candidates for the committees. It is tempting to hope that another team will do it, but in this case, we need contributions from everyone to increase the diversity of representation. Please *email your nominations to the Execs by Wednesday 5th of July* as indicated below. *What does being a committee member entail? * The two committees (OC and TC) each have a different focus, although they work closely at times. The TC is responsible for writing the rules and technical challenges of the SPL and implementing the league's longer-term roadmap year by year. The TC also manages the call for participation and qualification decisions. The time commitment varies depending on the time of year, but the TC usually meets at least once a month and the responsibilities are divided between the committee members. The OC helps implement directives from the TC and is responsible for organizational aspects of the league and the RoboCup event. The OC interacts with the Local Organising Committee for the RoboCup event itself to ensure that the physical environment, network, etc. matches the league's needs. The OC also helps organise the running of the SPL at the event, including the game schedule, referee allocation, the collation of results, etc. Like the TC, the time commitment varies, but OC usually meets at least once a month after the call for participation has gone out. Nominees to both committees are voted for by the teams but must be approved by the trustees. (The trustees can also appoint members.) The trustees have specifically asked for diversified representation from different geographical regions and teams at different levels of the competition, in addition to other kinds of diversity. You don't have to be an experienced RoboCupper or from an experienced team to join the committees. All we ask is that you have a reasonable expectation of attending the next RoboCup event and will commit to the role for at least the year leading up to that event. (If you might be able to participate for a couple of years, that is even better). By participating you get a chance to develop long-lasting relationships, to help the league operate and improve, to add to your resume, and to genuinely make a difference. *Nomination and election process * Any member of any team may be nominated. You can nominate yourself, or another person (but ask them first to make sure they are interested in being nominated). To make a nomination, simply email all the execs ( katie(a)cs.utexas.edu <mailto:katie@cs.utexas.edu>, patrick.goettsch(a)tuhh.de, and rudi.villing(a)mu.ie <mailto:rudi.villing@mu.ie> ) with the following information by Wednesday 05th of July: Committee (TC or OC)? Nominee’s name: Nominee’s team: Nominee’s email: After nominations have been finalized, the list will be circulated and each team may vote for three preferred nominees for each committee. More instructions will be given when the election opens. We look forward to receiving your nominations. Best regards, Rudi, Katie and Patrick (the SPL execs)

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IDs and Defects for RC24 - Reply by 07.07.2024
by Arne Moos 24 Jun '24

24 Jun '24

Hello RC-Teams, Time is flying and we are soon be reunited in Eindhoven for this years RoboCup! As we are preparing, I want to remind you to sent me your lists of Robots IDs and defects you will be bringing to the event. You can find both excel sheets in my previous mail. *Please make sure to turn them in by **07.07.2024**.* This way I will have one week to check your missing data and we can plan the priorities for the urgent repairs during the set up days. I am very much looking forward to seeing you there! With kind regards, Viele Grüße / Best Regards <https://cobiotx.unitedrobotics.group/> *Eva Hähn* Operations Manager Email: e.haehn(a)unitedrobotics.group <mailto:e.haehn@unitedrobotics.group> Web: www.unitedrobotics.group <https://cobiotx.unitedrobotics.group/> United Robotics Group GmbH Wittener Straße 45 44789 Bochum Commercial Register: AG Bochum, HRB 19138 Management Board: Dr. Nadja Schmiedl, Thomas Hähn, Thomas Linkenheil Diese E-Mail enthält vertrauliche und/oder rechtlich geschützte Informationen. Wenn Sie nicht der richtige Adressat sind oder diese E-Mail irrtümlich erhalten haben, informieren Sie bitte sofort den Absender und vernichten Sie diese Mail. Das unerlaubte Kopieren sowie die unbefugte Weitergabe dieser Mail ist nicht gestattet. This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Von:* Eva Hähn | United Robotics Group <e.haehn(a)unitedrobotics.group> *Gesendet:* Montag, 6. Mai 2024 14:50 *An:* rc-spl-oc(a)lists.robocup.org <rc-spl-oc(a)lists.robocup.org> *Betreff:* IDs and Defects for RC24 Hello Dear RoboCupers, I am getting more and more messages from you regarding onsite repairs for this years RoboCup in Eindhoven. Maybe we should start early with collecting your IDs and Defects this year: If you know which robots you are going to bring to the Event, please fill in the excel above. In case you dont know your warranty end dates, you can leave them empty. I will check and fill them for you. I already asked the teams that attended the german open to try and sent some of their defects to the repair center prior to the event, to help us focus the clinics actions on the urgent repairs that keep the competition running instead of performing maintenance tasks. If your team is not in the URG distribution territory, please check with your local distributor for repair center availabilities. When this option is already ruled out and you know that you will have to bring defect robots to the event that will have to be repaired by us during the set up days, please fill the second list. This way we can prepare by ordering special spare parts for your repairs and make sure we prioritise the repairs before the matches so that every team has enough functional robots to start the matches. I am very much looking forward to seeing you all in Eindhoven! Viele Grüße / Best Regards <https://cobiotx.unitedrobotics.group/> *Eva Hähn* Operations Manager Email: e.haehn(a)unitedrobotics.group <mailto:e.haehn@unitedrobotics.group> Web: www.unitedrobotics.group <https://cobiotx.unitedrobotics.group/> United Robotics Group GmbH Wittener Straße 45 44789 Bochum Commercial Register: AG Bochum, HRB 19138 Management Board: Dr. Nadja Schmiedl, Thomas Hähn, Thomas Linkenheil Diese E-Mail enthält vertrauliche und/oder rechtlich geschützte Informationen. Wenn Sie nicht der richtige Adressat sind oder diese E-Mail irrtümlich erhalten haben, informieren Sie bitte sofort den Absender und vernichten Sie diese Mail. Das unerlaubte Kopieren sowie die unbefugte Weitergabe dieser Mail ist nicht gestattet. This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden.

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RoboCup SPL Newsletter No. 2 2024
by Caron, Benjamin 17 Jun '24

17 Jun '24

Dear all, TL;DR: * Referee meeting on June 22. * Rulebook update: New Standby state. * New GameController version with new header. * Please consider participating in the technical challenge. * Swiss-system tournament for CC and CS. * Pre-qualification rules announcement. * Call for nominations to SPL committees. * Reminder: Prepare team posters. Referee Meeting on June 22 The technical committee will hold a virtual referee meeting on the SPL Discord <https://discord.gg/3WcStZ4nsx> on June 22 at 15:30 CEST. Find the time in your timezone here.<https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?qm=1&lid=5261457,3688689,6077243,3451190,29…> Please make sure that at least one referee of your team can attend this meeting! In the meeting we will address the changes of the Rules since last year. Rulebook Updates The final rulebook for RoboCup 2024 can be found here<https://spl.robocup.org/wp-content/uploads/SPL-Rules-2024.pdf>. Every team participating should consult this document and have a good understanding of it. The major change from our last update is the addition of the Standby state before Ready for Champions Cup matches. GameController Update A new version of the GameController will be available soon here<https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/GameController3/releases>. In the meantime, the GameController can be tested by building the source from the same repository. Technical Challenge Teams are encouraged to participate in the technical challenge, which this year focuses on teamwork between an autonomous NAO and a remote-controlled NAO. Participating teams are required to prepare two slides explaining their approach to the challenge. See the challenge rules for more information. Swiss-System Tournament For RoboCup 2024, the Swiss system will be used for both Champions Cup and Challenge Shield. Pre-Qualification Based on the result of RoboCup 2024 pre-qualification will be issued to the top 3 teams in Champions Cup divisions and the top 3 teams in Challenge Shield division. The 5 best scoring teams from the Technical Challenge will also be pre-qualified if they aren’t already pre-qualification due to another criteria. Call for Nominations Please remember the call for nominations to the SPL organizing committee (OC) and technical committee (TC). You can find more information here<https://discord.com/channels/721967993860521996/727109269060845588/12506723…>. Reminder: Team Posters Finally, this is a reminder that teams need to prepare a poster to participate in the main communication. See section A.1 of the rulebook for more information. Best regards, RoboCup SPL Technical Committee

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2024 Call for Nominations for Silvia Coradeschi and Gerhard K. Kraetzschmar Awards
by Tom Ellis 27 Apr '24

27 Apr '24

2024 Call for Nominations for Silvia Coradeschi and Gerhard K. Kraetzschmar Awards Prof. Silvia Coradeschi (d. Feb 5, 2014) was a founding trustee of RoboCup and an early visionary in the RoboCup initiative. She served as General Chair of RoboCup 1999 in Stockholm, Sweden, was a frequent competition participant, and was an exemplar of the RoboCup ideal of engaging in cutting-edge AI and Robotics research. Prof. Gerhard K. Kraetzschmar (d. July 24, 2019) joined RoboCup since its beginning in 1997 and significantly contributed to the development of the RoboCup Federation (Trustee since 2004, Vice-President from 2008 to 2016). He was involved in the organization of many of the leagues, with major contributions to RoboCupJunior, RoboCup@Home, and RoboCup@Work. He was General Chair of RoboCup 2016 in Leipzig, Germany. To honor their extraordinary contributions to RoboCup and to honor their memories, the RoboCup Federation created “The Silvia Coradeschi RoboCup Award” in 2014 (https://www.robocup.org/silvia_coradeschi), for a young female RoboCup student or post-doctoral researcher, with distinguishing research and the “The Gerhard Kraetzschmar RoboCup Distinguished Service Award” in 2021 (https://www.robocup.org/gkk_award), to recognize the outstanding contributions of an individual for his/her exceptional leadership, service, and dedication that benefit RoboCup in any of its leagues. We are now calling for candidates for the 2024 Awards. The award recipients, to be named at RoboCup 2024 will receive: * a certificate * a US$1,000 honorarium Nominations for the “Silvia Coradeschi Award”: Eligible candidates for the “Silvia Coradeschi Award” are female graduate students and post-doctoral researchers who received the degree within the past 3 years and who will register for RoboCup 2024. The two criteria are: 1. Distinguishing research as evidenced by, for example, refereed publications. 2. RoboCup leadership, either within a team and/or in the broad RoboCup community. To nominate a female student or post-doctoral researcher for the “Silvia Coradeschi Award”, the individual's professor should fill out the nomination form<https://forms.gle/VT2j8SsXHCfn9XkT9> by May 1st, 2024. The submission should include: * A letter of recommendation that addresses both criteria. * An additional letter of recommendation from a RoboCup community member not affiliated with the nominee’s team is recommended (but not required) to support the nomination. Please upload the letters to the form by the professor recommending the candidate. Nominations for the “Gerhard Kraetzschmar RoboCup Distinguished Service Award”: Eligible candidates for the “Gerhard Kraetzschmar RoboCup Distinguished Service Award” are RoboCup members with an outstanding record of service in one or more of the RoboCup Leagues, including as Technical and Organizing Committees, Executive Committee, and/or Board of Trustees. To nominate a RoboCup member for the “Gerhard Kraetzschmar RoboCup Distinguished Service Award”, a person nominating a candidate should fill out the nomination form<https://forms.gle/VT2j8SsXHCfn9XkT9> by May 1st, 2024 by May 1st, 2024. The email must include * a letter of recommendation that addresses the individual’s impact of service and contributions to RoboCup, including diversity, quality, and length of the work done for RoboCup. * One or two additional letter(s) of recommendation from RoboCup community members to support the nomination. Please upload the letters to the form by the person nominating the candidate. Best Regards, Tom Ellis on behalf of the RoboCup SPL OC and TC.

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Important News - URG - NAO repairs + price list
by Arne Moos 15 Apr '24

15 Apr '24

Latest news from URG/Aldebaran regarding NAO repairs and the newest price list. > > Hello dear RobCupers! > > after we struggled with not being able to offer you warranty > extensions anymore last year. > > You guys helped us finding a new solution to cope with the out of > warranty repairs that will be usable from today on. > > I know this might be a little short notice considering the GO starting > next week, but we hope this will help you and your universities plan > the budgets for upcoming NAO repairs more conveniently. > > We now offer RoboCup Repair Vouchers! > The Voucher will come at a Cost of 5.000€ plus VAT and grant you 10 > Repairs on your NAO fleet. > You can use your voucher onsite at RoboCup events and also for the > Repair Center in 2 years time after purchase. * > * > Most important thing: When ordering a Voucher you will get a voucher > number. Every time you want to use one of your purchased > voucher-repairs, you will have to submit this number, onsite at the > Event or in your Ticket for the repair center. > > This offer is currently only available for the European Teams, that > are managed by United Robotics Group as the European Master > Distributor for RoboCup. The Master Distributors in the other regions > are still able to sell the 1 year repair packages. > > In Summary you now can get: > > * 1 RoboCup Repair Voucher: > * > > * *5.000€ plus VAT * > * *10 Repairs total * > * *usable on all your out of warranty robots * > * *usable on the event and in the repair center * > * *valid for 2 years after purchase * > > > Of course the regular repair center repairs on cost estimates and the > one time repairs for the events (440€ plus VAT) are still available as > well. > > We hope this solution will allow you to keep using your out of > warranty robots and be more flexible with repairing them while being > able to better plan budgets with your institutes. > > I am very much looking forward to seeing you next week! > > Eva > > P.S.: find the whole RoboCup price list (starting from 15th of April > 2024) below for information: > > > *NAO ROBOT* > > Europe/APAC/Japan: (Price in Euro) > NAM_LAM: (Price in US Dollars) > > *PRICE OF NAO V6* > 5784€ > $ 7970 > > /Includes/: 2 Years of warranty starting at initial shipping date + 1 > Charger + 1 Battery > /Does not include/: shipping, import duties and taxes > > *ADDITIONAL BATTERY FOR NAO* (Subject to availability) > 176€ > > *ADDITIONAL CHARGER FOR NAO* (Subject to availability) > 266€ > > *ADDITIONAL CHARGER FOR NAO + 1 BATTERY* (Subject to availability) > 350€ > $ 590 > > *1 YEAR MAINTENANCE PACKAGE FOR NAO V6* > 1296€ (APAC & Japan) > $1540 > > *10 REPAIR VOUCHERS NAO V6* > 5000€ (Europe) > > *1 YEAR WARRANTY EXTENSION FOR NAO V5 AND PREVIOUS* > not available > not available > > > Important information > > Teams will be able to order NAO V6 within the limit of six (6) robots > per Challenge Shield Team and eight (8) robots per Champions Cup team. > Due to the electronic components crisis, COMPANIES are facing a > shortage of batteries for NAO. Orders can be fulfilled depending on > availability. > The total warranty period shall not exceed a duration of four (4) > years after the initial shipping date of the robot, unless otherwise > agreed in writing between the Team and an authorized distributor > depending on the location of the Team and as appointed by a Company. > As for NAO V4, quotation will be done within the limits of available > stock of NAO V4 spare parts. > Warranty does not include shipping costs. For the sake of clarity, in > case of warranty claim, Teams will have to pay for the shipment of the > robot if such transport is needed. > > > Viele Grüße / Best Regards > Eva Hähn > Operations Manager > > Email: e.haehn(a)unitedrobotics.group > Web: www.unitedrobotics.group > United Robotics Group GmbH > Wittener Straße 45 > 44789 Bochum > -- M.Sc. Arne Moos Robotics Research Institute Section Information Technology TU Dortmund University Otto-Hahn-Str. 8 44227 Dortmund, Germany arne.moos(a)tu-dortmund.de https://ds.etit.tu-dortmund.de/ Phone: +49 231 755 7047 Fax: +49 231 755 3251 Important note: The information included in this e-mail is confidential. It is solely intended for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail please contact the sender and delete this message. Thank you. Without prejudice of e-mail correspondence, our statements are only legally binding when they are made in the conventional written form (with personal signature) or when such documents are sent by fax.

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GermanOpen 2024 - Call for Participation
by Patrick Göttsch 08 Apr '24

08 Apr '24

RoboCup German Open 2024 - Major Leagues Call for Participation https://robocup.de/german-open April 17th – 20th, 2024 Messe Kassel, Germany The RoboCup German Open 2024 will be the 21st open RoboCup competition held in Germany. The event will take place in Kassel at Messe Kassel. Every regional and international Major team is cordially invited to take part in the event. --------------------- RoboCup Major Leagues (international teams) ------------------------- Competitions are from April 17th- 20th in the following Major leagues: RoboCup Soccer Standard Platform League RoboCup Soccer Humanoid League RoboCup Soccer Small Size League RoboCup Rescue Robot League RoboCup Logistics League RoboCup @Home League RoboCup @Work League The registration opens *** February 12th, 2024 ***. The registration deadline is *** February 29th, 2024 ***. Visit https://register.robocup.de to register your RoboCup Major League team. Details on the registration (fee, accommodation, rules) are available on the website. Booking of blocked accommodation with special rates is possible after your registration. The Major Leagues Organizing Committee: Patrick Göttsch (Standard Platform League) Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann (Humanoid League) Nicolai Ommer (Small Size League) Johannes Pellenz, Stefan May (Rescue Robot League) Sven Wachsmuth (@Home League) Alexander Ferrein (Logistics League) Christoph Steup (RoboCup @Work League) -------------------------- RoboCup Junior (regional teams) ------------------------------- From April 18th-21st the final event of the German RoboCupJunior Championship will be held at RoboCup German Open 2024 in Kassel. The best teams that have qualified in the eight previous local tournaments will take part. The best German Junior teams will qualify for RoboCup 2024 in Eindhoven and for the European RoboCupJunior Competition 2024 in Hannover. -------------------------------- Important dates —————------------------------------------ 2024-02-12 Major teams registration starts 2024-02-29 Major teams registration deadline 2024-03-11 Invoices are sent to team leaders 2024-03-17 Registration deadline for team member updates 2024-03-31 Registration fee due 2024-04-17 Set-up day Major League teams (venue opens 9:00) 2024-04-18 Competition day (open to the public) 2024-04-19 Competition day (open to the public) 2024-04-20 Competition day, Major finals (open to the public) 2024-04-21 Competition day, Junior finals (open to the public) ----------------------------------- Contact --------------------------------------------- Please contact germanopen(a)robocup.de for any questions. See you all at the 21st RoboCup German Open 2024! Best regards, German RoboCup Committee ---------------------------------- Acknowledgement ———————————————————— The RoboCup German Open 2024 is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF) under grant number 16ME0933.

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RoboCup SPL 2024 Team Newsletter
by Stefan Seering 21 Mar '24

21 Mar '24

Dear SPL Teams, with this newsletter, we want to share the newest information: Rules There have been minor rule changes based on feedback we received via Discord and issues on Github <https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/Rules/issues>. Thank you all for your feedback and contribution. The latest rule draft can be found here <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2024>. This is a list of the latest changes: • Kick off after a Global game stuck is now assigned by the GameController • Wide stance allowance is now loosened to 10 seconds • Technical Challenge: Clarification on procedure and scoring Online registration for RoboCup 2024 Upcoming is the online registration for RoboCup 2024: every team will be required to register online with the RoboCup organization for the 2024 competition. The registration form and deadline are not finalized yet. You will be notified via e-mail as soon as online registration is available. URG/Aldebaran Currently, the contract regarding repairs is still under negotiation. However, it was announced that the RoboCup prices for robot purchases will increase by 10% by the 15th of April. So if you think about buying a NAO in the RoboCup-version/pricing it is best to do this beforehand. Travel visa Using the travel website of the Government of the Netherlands <https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/visa-the-netherlands/visa-required>, you can determine if your human team members need a travel visa to visit RoboCup 2024. If you plan to apply for a visa, invitation letters may be obtained from the Robocup organization <https://2024.robocup.org/early-visa-applications/>. Robot Jersey Submission If you are a new team, or plan on changing your previous jersey designs, please send in your jerseys for approval. Submission must arrive by 1st of May 2024 via e-mail to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org . For more details, see section 2.2 of the rules document <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2024>. All approved jersey designs will be published by the TC <https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/Robot-Jerseys> before the 2024 competition. Best regards Stefan Seering on behalf of the SPL Technical Committee.

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Naova code usage for German Open 2024
by Club Naova 17 Mar '24

17 Mar '24

Dear SPL Teams, In accordance with the terms and conditions of the B-Human code release 2021's license, Naova announces the use of the B-Human code from the release 2021 for the German Open 2024. The following parts of our code have been written by Naova: * Walk controller * Strategies * Behavior * Wi-Fi communication We will also replace the ball perception with our own model, but this change is not ready yet. The following parts are modifications of the original B-Human code: - Tactics selection We would like to thank the B-Human Team for sharing their code and acknowledge their contribution to the RoboCup SPL. [signature_914140835]Olivier St-Pierre | Étudiant en génie logiciel Capitaine du club scientifique Naova École de Technologie Supérieure | 1100, rue Notre-Dame Ouest Montréal (Qc) Canada | H3C1K3 Tél. : 438-226-6639| Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/clubnaova/> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/naorobotique/> | Site Web<https://www.clubnaova.ca/>

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B-Human Usage of Code from Nao Devils 2023 Code Release
by Thomas Röfer 16 Mar '24

16 Mar '24

Dear SPL teams, the team B-Human hereby announces that we will probably use the module "WhistleDetector" including the neural network "WhistleNetMk16" from the Nao Devils Code Release 2023 during the upcoming competitions. We wish to thank the Nao Devils for advancing our league by releasing their software! Best regards, Thomas Röfer (B-Human) _______________ [attachment.png] Dr. Thomas Röfer Senior Researcher Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz GmbH (DFKI) Cyber-Physical Systems Enrique-Schmidt-Straße 5 28359 Bremen Deutschland / Germany Phone: +49 421 218-64200 Mobile: +49 160 96708297 Further Information: https://www.dfki.de Headquarters: Trippstadter Straße 122, D-67663 Managing directors: Prof. Dr. Antonio Krüger Helmut Ditzer Chairman of the supervisory board: Dr. Ferri Abolhassan Amtsgericht Kaiserslautern, HRB 2313

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Reminder: RoboCup SPL Call for Applications for Participation 2024
by Stefan Seering 07 Feb '24

07 Feb '24

Call for Applications for Participation Monday 15th July through Monday 22th July 2024 Eindhoven, The Netherlands 2024.robocup.org <https://2024.robocup.org> More details can be found on the league homepage <https://spl.robocup.org/call-for-participation-2024/>. All applications with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by *15th of February 2024*, by email to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. / RoboCup 2024 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees/

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Reminder: RoboCup SPL Call for Applications for Participation 2024
by Stefan Seering 02 Feb '24

02 Feb '24

Call for Applications for Participation Monday 15th July through Monday 22th July 2024 Eindhoven, The Netherlands 2024.robocup.org <https://2024.robocup.org> More details can be found on the league homepage <https://spl.robocup.org/call-for-participation-2024/>. All applications with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by *15th of February 2024*, by email to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. / RoboCup 2024 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees/

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RoboCup Early Visa Invitation Letters
by 2024＠robocup.org 22 Jan '24

22 Jan '24

Dear RoboCuppers, We are very much looking forward to inviting all of you to Eindhoven, The Netherlands for RoboCup 2024! To allow more teams to join RoboCup 2024, we offer early visa invitation letters. Participants that require a visa to join RoboCup in The Netherlands may apply for an early visa invitation letter. This letter allows for making an earlier appointment at an embassy to request a visa, rather than only after completing registration. There are some constraints on who can receive a visa invitation letter. You can find the details, as well as the request form, on the RoboCup 2024 website: https://2024.robocup.org/?page_id=2998 We hope to see you at RoboCup 2024! Best regards, RoboCup 2024 Organisation 2024(a)robocup.org <mailto:2024@robocup.org>

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RoboCup SPL Call for Applications for Participation 2024
by Stefan Seering 16 Dec '23

16 Dec '23

Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2024 Standard Platform League spl.robocup.org <https://spl.robocup.org/> Monday 15th July through Monday 22th July 2024 Eindhoven, The Netherlands 2024.robocup.org <https://2024.robocup.org> RoboCup <https://www.robocup.org/> is an international initiative that fosters research and education in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions (RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupIndustrial, RoboCupJunior) involving mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCupSoccer currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. *The Standard Platform League (SPL)* is characterized by all the teams using an identical robot platform. Participating researchers focus on algorithmic development for fully autonomous robots in the main competition and operation of robots with shared autonomy in technical challenges. The SPL robot soccer team competition games at RoboCup 2024 will be played between teams of fully autonomous NAO robots. Participating teams may use V6, V5 or older versions of the NAO humanoid robot manufactured by Aldebaran <https://www.aldebaran.com/en/nao>. Teams should be able to play on a randomly assigned field within one hour. The RoboCup 2024 SPL will host: * A soccer team competition as the main competition of the event. * A shared autonomy technical challenge. The soccer team competition will consist of a number of games that is similar to recent years for most teams. The draft rule book for 2024 will be released by 15th of December 2023 on the downloads page <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2024>. The league operates two divisions: Champions Cup (CC) and Challenge Shield (CS). Teams in the Champions Cup division will compete in matches with up to 7 robots per team. Teams in the Challenge Shield division will compete in matches with up to 5 robots per team. The teams participating in the team competition should also compete in the additional technical challenge. The Technical challenge for 2024 is the shared autonomy challenge. This technical challenge requires participants to develop a mixed team that consists of one human-operated Nao robot and one fully autonomous Nao with the objective of exploring how humans and robots can cooperate in soccer. Teams are encouraged to improve their skills in these challenges so that aspects of these challenges can be included in the main competition in future years. More details regarding technical challenges will be given in the rule book <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2024>. Joining the League The league is always ready to welcome new teams. If you are considering joining: the league has prepared information for you <https://spl.robocup.org/joining-robocup-spl/> to support you in your first steps. We encourage you to contact the organizing committees and other teams if you have questions. To assist in adoption of NAO V6 robots, source code examples and documentation regarding V6 robots were published on the SPL website <https://spl.robocup.org/v6-support/>. One can also find example code for V6 robots in the code released by participating teams. If you need access to the RoboCup NAOqi Image and the specific documentation, please write an email (mentioning your team affiliation and plans) to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. Qualification All interested teams that are not pre-qualified must apply by sending an email to the Technical Committee (see below). A valid application must contain: 1. *Team Description Paper:* See below. The TDP must be *attached as PDF file* to the email. 2. *Preference to compete in the Champions Cup or Challenge Shield:* State whether you prefer to compete in CC or CS. If you prefer to compete in CS, please state if you would accept an assignment to CC to balance the competition. 3. *Video presentation:* Include a link to a video (maximum 5 minutes long, uploaded on the team’s web site or on some video server) that demonstrates the status of the team. The organizing committees use the video to determine the readiness of the team to compete effectively, and hence should focus on the team’s ability to play soccer. Teams who did not participate in the team competition at RoboCup 2023 *must* include footage of at least one robot attempting to kick off and score (this footage must be captured as a single wide shot with no cuts). If robots from multiple teams are active in the footage (e.g., game footage), please include a textual overlay or additional document denoting which robots belong to the applying team for every scene. Videos of simulation contributions will also be accepted, but only when a real robot is unavailable. Preference will be given to teams that use real robots to show soccer skills in their video. 4. *Robot purchase plans:* State how many NAO robots your team plans to buy this year. Pre-Qualification Teams that reached the quarter-finals or finished in the top 5 of the technical challenges at RoboCup 2023 will be pre-qualified for RoboCup 2024, if they submit a valid application as detailed below. The following teams can make use of pre-qualification: * BadgerBots * Bembelbots * B-Human * Dutch Nao Team * HTWK Robots * HULKs * Nao Devils * NomadZ * RoboEireann * rUNSWift * R-ZWEI KICKERS * SPQR Team A valid application for pre-qualified teams must contain: 1. *Team Description Paper:* See below. The TDP must be *attached as PDF file* to the email. 2. *Preference to compete in the Champions Cup or Challenge Shield:* State whether you prefer to compete in CC or CS. If you prefer to compete in CS, please state if you would accept an assignment to CC to balance the competition. 3. *Robot purchase plans:* State how many NAO robots your team plans to buy this year. If a joint 2023 team splits, only one team can be pre-qualified for 2024 (please indicate which one). Team Description Paper Both regular and pre-qualified teams must submit a team description paper (TDP) attached as PDF file to their application email. For the TDP to be considered, it must: * be formatted according to the *Springer LNCS author guidelines <https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…>*. * be no longer than *8 pages* (including references). * be structured in the following *sections with the specified headings*: 1. *Team Information:* o team name (the one true spelling, considering capitalization, spaces, hyphens, etc.) o team leader(s) o team contact email address o team website URL (if available) o country of origin o university/company affiliation(s) of the team 2. *Code Usage:* Acknowledge the team’s use of any other team’s code (1) previously from 2019 to present and (2) anticipated at RoboCup 2024. If code is used from other teams, is this code integrated into a code base that is mainly designed by the applying team? If the applying team does not use any other team’s code, state so. For further details, please have a look into the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2024>. 3. *Own Contribution:* Describe in detail the ‘research publishable’ significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2024, in accordance with the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2024>. 4. *Past History:* provide game results in RoboCup Open competitions as well as main RoboCup competitions from 2020 onward. Include opponents and game scores from each competition in a table. State if the team plans to participate in any RoboCup Open competitions or friendlies prior to RoboCup 2024. 5. *Impact:* What is the impact of the team’s participation and research in RoboCup on (1) the SPL, (2) the team’s university/community? 6. *Other:* Present any other information that you believe supports your application. Please note that the TDP is not a peer-reviewed publication and will not appear in any collection apart from the RoboCup TDP archive <https://tdp.robocup.org>. Qualification for Regional Opens Only Teams may also submit a short intent to participate in a regional open if they do not wish to participate in the 2024 RoboCup competition. Although teams may participate in regional opens without submitting this intent to participate, teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified may be eligible for future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for teams competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced as soon as offers and conditions are finalized. Teams must submit the following information by 15th of February 2024: (1) The team name, leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team and (2) a short statement describing the status/progress of the team. A link to a short video showing robot soccer behaviours and/or game play (using robots or in simulation) may be included if available. Submission and Evaluation All applications with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by *15th of February 2024*, by email to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. Please use a subject matching the pattern *RoboCup 2024 Application <team name>*. Applications must not be sent to personal SPL TC/OC email addresses and must not contain video attachments. By submitting your application, you grant the SPL committees the rights to publish the TDP and application video / code release link. Note that applying serves as a statement of commitment to participate in the RoboCup 2024 SPL. If you have doubts regarding the ability of your team to participate (due to funding, visas, etc.), please apply by the deadline but note this in your application email. Declining to participate in any competition after the official early registration period has opened may negatively affect future applications (the later you decline, the worse it will affect future applications). Teams are encouraged to consider joint participation. Joint proposals will be judged on combined merit. Applications will be evaluated by criteria which include: 1. Potential to play competitive games at RoboCup 2024 (demonstrated ability to play soccer, previous results, etc.) 2. Contributions (and potential contributions) to league (code releases/papers, active in organization, developing own code, etc.) 3. Diversity (region, team make-up, unique characteristics, etc.) Since 2023 the competition rules require all teams to release the source code for novel contributions. This ensures that all teams can learn from good solutions and all teams are driven to make improvements each year. More details regarding code releases will be given in the rule book <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2024>. All teams can expect to be required to publish a contribution. The form will be similar to the releases required of pre-qualified teams as stated in the 2023 rulebook. As part of the application phase teams will be assigned into the CC and CS divisions. Assignments will be judged based on previous performance and application material. The organizing committees will do their best to honor teams' preferences. However, the necessity might arise to assign teams into divisions against their preference. All teams applying for CC are expected to be able to compete in CS. Teams will be notified during the application phase if they are assigned into a division against their preference Qualification decisions, including alternate lists, will be announced by 1st of March 2024. Robot Acquisition Teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified will be eligible for potential future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for team competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced if offers and conditions are finalized. /RoboCup 2024 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees/

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HTWK Robots Vision Release
by Nao-Team HTWK 12 Dec '23

12 Dec '23

Dear RoboCup SPL Teams, At https://github.com/NaoHTWK/HTWKVision you can find the release of our vision as used during the RoboCup 2023 competition. Best regards HTWK Robots.

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Rohow 2023 - Call for Participation
by Patrick Göttsch 06 Nov '23

06 Nov '23

Dear fellow RoboCup teams, After four years COVID-related hiatus, we are happy to announce that the 10th Robotic Hamburg Open Workshop (RoHOW) 2023 will again take place in-person at the Hamburg University of Technology! The event will take place from 2023-12-01 to 2023-12-03. The idea of the RoHOW is pretty simple: Sharing ideas in workshops and discussions or just hanging out together with a cool drink. We will have a full size field as well as couches, tables, large monitors, separate rooms for workshops, as well as food and drinks. Topics for talks, workshops, and discussion rounds are contributed by you and scheduled during the event. We already opened the scheduling tool at https://mopad.rohow.de/. Feel free to enter your topics there now. You will have to create a new account there to add topics. If you don't see your team name, let us know. You can find the location, schedule, and more at https://rohow.de/ After you decide to participate, please register until 2023-11-13 ;) Send us an email hulks(a)tuhh.de including your team name and number of participants so we can plan team zones, etc. As always, there is no participation fee. There are still some uncertainties? Just write us an email. The same applies to ideas, criticism and whatever else comes to your mind. See you at RoHOW 2023, Team HULKs

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B-Human's Video Analysis App development version
by Thomas Röfer 04 Nov '23

04 Nov '23

Dear RoboCuppers! The team B-Human announces that we updated our Video Analysis App at: https://github.com/bhuman/VideoAnalysis The 2023 version is still work in progress, so we added it to the new branch "devel". The branch "main" still only contains last year's version. The main changes in comparison to last year's version are: - Uses Python 3.10 - Requires YOLOv5 7.0.0 or above - Distinguishes 10 different team colors - Reads new GameController log format - Accepts more than one video per half - Supports timeouts - Uses GoPro telemetry stream to initialize extrinsic camera calibration - Computes average localization error (with GameController3 logs) - Has scalable user interface Parts of the documentation have not been updated yet, in particular about training the network. We will also publish the dataset soon that was used to train the network. It now uses images from 17 games instead of just the 7 that were used last year. Game videos and GameController logs are linked at https://github.com/bhuman/SPLGames . Have fun :-) Team B-Human

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Call for Interest of Participation RoboCup GermanOpen 2024
by Patrick Göttsch 04 Nov '23

04 Nov '23

Dear RoboCup teams, for the 17.04.2024 - 20.04.2024 the GermanOpen are planned in Kassel, Germany. For further planning and discussions with the organisers I would like to collect your interest to participate in the RoboCup GermanOpen 2024. Please send an email to patick.goettsch(a)tuhh.de with the following information until the 17th of November: Your team name, the number of team members interested in participating in the GermanOpen, the number of robots you might bring, and how sure you are that you will participate. Thank you very much, Best regards, Patrick

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Code Release HULKs
by Patrick Göttsch 18 Oct '23

18 Oct '23

Dear all, all already announced the HULKs are developing their code base publically. Here you find the version used at the of RC 2023. https://github.com/HULKs/hulk/tree/robocup2023 Fell free to test, use and contribute. Kind regards Patrick (on behalf of the HULKs)

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NomadZ Code Release 2023
by Li Zichong 17 Oct '23

17 Oct '23

Dear fellow SPL Teams, we hereby announce the availability of our 2023 code release: https://github.com/nomadz-ethz/nomadz-code-release Best regards, Zichong

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Berlin-United Code Release 2023
by Heinrich Mellmann 17 Oct '23

17 Oct '23

Dear RoboCup SPL Teams, here you can find the release of our code from the RC2023 competition with minor fixes and cleanups: https://github.com/BerlinUnited/NaoTH/tree/release/rc2023 We are doing a rolling release and our 'develop' brunch ist continuously made public. So you are welcome to drop by from time to time for new updates :) Cheers, - Heinrich

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BadgerBots 2023 Code Release
by Josiah Hanna 16 Oct '23

16 Oct '23

Dear RoboCup SPL Teams, We (Team BadgerBots at UW Madison) are releasing our code that we used to compete in RoboCup 2023 standard platform league challenge shield. Our primary code and research contribution was the use of reinforcement learning (RL) to train our robot behavior for the attacker, defender, and goalie roles. Towards enabling other teams to use RL within their own behavior architectures, we are open sourcing both our robot code and the framework we used for training behaviors in simulation. The total code release aims to provide a basic working team using RL-derived behaviors and the code to train those behaviors. We provide two repositories: https://github.com/Badger-RL/AbstractSimRelease2023 AbstractSimRelease2023 is used for training neural network control policies for our main robot behaviors. The goalie policy’s training should work with the code provided. We are still applying finishing touches to make it easy to locally reproduce how we ran the attacker training process, and they will soon be pushed to this repository with instructions. https://github.com/Badger-RL/BadgerRLSystemCodeRelease2023 BadgerRLSystemCodeRelease2023 is forked from BHuman’s 2021 code release and contains pre-trained neural network behaviors and provides a ready to use software suite for controlling a team of 5 Naov6 robots. It makes use of BHuman’s full software stack with the primary exception that main high-level behaviors are generated by neural network control policies. We graciously thank BHuman for open-sourcing their codebase to advance the league. Feel free to email balis(a)wisc.edu<mailto:balis@wisc.edu> or create issues on either repository if you have questions or comments. Sincerely, BadgerBots

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RoboEireann Code Release 2023
by Rudi Villing 16 Oct '23

16 Oct '23

Dear RoboCup SPL Teams, We hereby announce the availability of our 2023 Code Release at: https://github.com/roboeireann/RoboEireannCodeRelease This is the complete code release representing the state of the code as of the end of RoboCup 2023 with some minor tidy up and (limited) bug fixes. It has everything required to run a game. Best regards, Rudi

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UT Austin Villa Code Release
by Siddharth Rajesh Desai 16 Oct '23

16 Oct '23

Hello, The code release for UT Austin Villa's RoboCup 2023 code has been uploaded to the git repository: https://github.com/LARG/spl-release Note: This version is for Ubuntu 20.04. We will be uploading an Ubuntu 22.04 version soon for people interested in using the latest version of Ubuntu and ROS 2. Best, Sid -- *SIDDHARTH DESAI* PhD student The University of Texas at Austin sidrdesai(a)utexas.edu

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SPQR 2023 Code Released
by Vincenzo Suriani 16 Oct '23

16 Oct '23

Dear RoboCup SPL teams, We announce the release of our 2023 code based on the B-Human 2021 code release. The code is available at the following link: https://github.com/SPQRTeam/spqr2023 We take this opportunity to thank the B-Human Team for their contribution to the league. Kind regards, Vincenzo Suriani - on behalf of the SPQR Team

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R-ZWEI KICKERS Code Releae 2023
by Adrian Müller 16 Oct '23

16 Oct '23

Hello everyone, we hereby announce the R-ZWEI KICKERS Code Release 2023 available at: https://github.com/AK-Smart-Machines-HS-KL/R-ZWEI-Kickers-Code-Release-2023 It represents the state of the official competition and contains everything required for a match. Best greetings from Zweibrücken , yours Team R-ZWEI KICKERS e-mail: rzwei.kickers(a)hs-kl.de<mailto:rzwei.kickers@hs-kl.de> Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards Prof. Adrian Müller, PSM-1, CSM http://www.hs-kl.de/~amueller Projektleitung AK Smart-Machines http://smart-machines.hs-kl.de/ tel: +49 631/3724-5329 fax: -5313 office: H234 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hochschule Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences Fachbereich I/MST Department of Computer Sciences and Microsystem Technology Amerikastr. 1 D 66482 Zweibruecken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Rinobot-Jaguar Code Release 2023
by SAMUEL ABREU PEREIRA 15 Oct '23

15 Oct '23

Hello everyone! We’re here to share our code release. Our Ball Detection model is available at https://github.com/rinobot-team/yoloBallDetection. Also our code base from previous competitions is at https://github.com/rinobot-team/SPL-Mari Best, -- Samuel Abreu

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Bembelbots 2023 code release
by Jens-Michael Siegl 15 Oct '23

15 Oct '23

Dear fellow SPL Teams, we hereby announce the availability of our 2023 code release: https://github.com/Bembelbots/BembelSoccer The code release includes our complete framework and build system, except for behavior. Best, Jens

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RedbackBots 2023 Code Release
by Timothy Wiley 13 Oct '23

13 Oct '23

Hello RoboCup Soccer SPL Teams, RedbackBots announces our 2023 code release available at: https://github.com/rmit-computing-technologies/redbackbots-coderelease Our 2023 Team paper is also available in the release at: https://github.com/rmit-computing-technologies/redbackbots-coderelease/blob… Regards, Timothy Dr. Timothy Wiley | Lecturer, School of Computing Technologies | RMIT University Building 14, Level 11 (City Campus) | Homepage<https://timothy-wiley.github.io> | CIAIRI<https://www.rmit.edu.au/research/centres-collaborations/centre-for-industri…> | AI Innovation Lab<http://rmit.edu.au/ailab>

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Nao Devils Code Release 2023
by ETIT, DS, Nao Devils 13 Oct '23

13 Oct '23

Hello everyone, we hereby announce the Nao Devils Code Release 2023 available at: https://github.com/NaoDevils/CodeRelease/tree/CodeRelease2023 It represents the state of the official competition and contains everything required for a match. <https://github.com/NaoDevils/CodeRelease/tree/CodeRelease2023>Our image generator is also available at: https://github.com/NaoDevils/NaoImage/ If you want a prebuilt .opn file of our code release, write us a short mail! Best greetings from Dortmund, Team Nao Devils -- Nao Devils RoboCup Standard Platform Soccer Team TU Dortmund University Otto-Hahn-Str. 8 44227 Dortmund, Germany naodevils.etit(a)tu-dortmund.de <mailto:naodevils.etit@tu-dortmund.de>https://naodevils.de/ Phone: +49 231 755 7047 Fax: +49 231 755 3251 Important note: The information included in this e-mail is confidential. It is solely intended for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail please contact the sender and delete this message. Thank you. Without prejudice of e-mail correspondence, our statements are only legally binding when they are made in the conventional written form (with personal signature) or when such documents are sent by fax. Wichtiger Hinweis: Die Information in dieser E-Mail ist vertraulich. Sie ist ausschließlich für den Adressaten bestimmt. Sollten Sie nicht der für diese E-Mail bestimmte Adressat sein, unterrichten Sie bitte den Absender und vernichten Sie diese Mail. Vielen Dank. Unbeschadet der Korrespondenz per E-Mail, sind unsere Erklärungen ausschließlich final rechtsverbindlich, wenn sie in herkömmlicher Schriftform (mit eigenhändiger Unterschrift) oder durch Übermittlung eines solchen Schriftstücks per Telefax erfolgen. Important note: The information included in this e-mail is confidential. It is solely intended for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail please contact the sender and delete this message. Thank you. Without prejudice of e-mail correspondence, our statements are only legally binding when they are made in the conventional written form (with personal signature) or when such documents are sent by fax.

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Naova code release 2023
by Club Naova 11 Oct '23

11 Oct '23

Hello everyone, I wanted to inform you that our code release for 2023 can be found at the following link: https://github.com/Naova/NaovaRelease Kind regards, [signature_914140835]Olivier St-Pierre | Étudiant en génie logiciel Capitaine du club scientifique Naova École de Technologie Supérieure | 1100, rue Notre-Dame Ouest Montréal (Qc) Canada | H3C1K3 Tél. : 438-226-6639| Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/clubnaova/> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/naorobotique/> | Site Web<https://www.clubnaova.ca/>

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Dutch Nao Team code release
by Ross Geurts 27 Sep '23

27 Sep '23

Hi all, Just letting everyone know that our code is available here: https://github.com/IntelligentRoboticsLab/dnt-hulk/tree/robocup-23 Best, Ross

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[Meetings] CoRL 2023 -- Workshop on Robot Learning in Athletics (RoboLetics)
by Zaidi, Zulfiqar Haider 22 Sep '23

22 Sep '23

Hi All, Please see the Call for Workshop Papers and Demonstrations below! Full-Day Workshop on Nov 06 at CoRL 2023 RoboLetics (Workshop on Robot Learning in Athletics) URL: https://sites.google.com/view/roboletics/home Important Dates * Submission deadline: 1st October, 2023 (Anywhere on Earth) * Author notification: 22nd October, 2023 * Workshop date: 6th November, 2023 Abstract: The workshop aims to explore the latest innovations and challenges in developing agile robotic systems with athletic behaviors, with a specific focus on leveraging learning techniques. Sports provide an ideal testbed for advancing robotic technology due to their demanding requirements of agility, autonomy, and precision. By addressing the unique challenges posed by sports applications, such as real-time control, dynamic adaptation, and intelligent game strategies, we can push the boundaries of robotic performance. The workshop will cover a wide range of vital topics including enhancing athletic behaviors through learning, improving real-time control in dynamic environments, overcoming challenges in deploying real-time machine learning systems, developing intelligent game strategies, and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations. By incorporating video demonstrations and various presentation formats, the workshop aims to facilitate knowledge exchange, inspire collaboration, and drive advancements in the integration of learning techniques in athletic robotics. The workshop is designed to engage a diverse audience from robotics, machine learning, sports science, and related disciplines, fostering interdisciplinary discussions and unlocking new possibilities for athletic and intelligent robotic systems. Call for Papers and Video Demonstrations We invite researchers to submit their contributions to the workshop in the form of short papers (2 pages) accompanied by video demonstrations or standalone papers (4 pages). These submissions should align with the workshop's topics of interest and will serve as a basis for initiating discussions during the event. Accepted papers will be presented as posters, presentations, and videos, and with the authors' permission, they will be published on the workshop website. Topics of Interest include: * Systems design enabling the learning of athletic behaviors in robots * Learning-based real-time controllers and planners for athletic movements * Safety frameworks for athletic robots * Sensing and state estimation under time and compute constraints with incomplete and imperfect knowledge of the world * Communication systems for robotic team sports * Synthesizing strategies for sports-playing robots * Human-robot collaboration for athletic and agile robots We encourage submissions that demonstrate and benchmark their approaches on sports-related applications such as table tennis, tennis, soccer, air hockey, and others. Invited Speakers Our workshop is privileged to host an exceptional lineup of speakers and panelists representing academia, industry, and athletics. Confirmed speakers include: * Jan Peters (TU Darmstadt) * Scott Kuindersma (Boston Dynamics) * Tuomas Haarnoja (Google Deepmind) * Soon Jo-Chung (Caltech, NASA JPL) * Koushil Sreenath (UC Berkeley) * Cassie Mitchel (Georgia Tech) * Davide Scaramuzza (ETH Zurich) * Laura Graesser (Google Robotics) * David D'Ambrosio (Google Robotics) Their expertise and contributions promise to make the workshop a truly enriching and insightful experience for all participants. Workshop Format The workshop will run in-person attendants and presenters. The accepted papers and demonstrations will be used to initiate discussion on the topics during the workshop and will be presented as both posters and presentations. Papers and video demonstrations will be published on the Workshop website with the authors’ permission. Submission Instructions Authors can submit demo papers of 2 pages accompanied with videos or 4 pages standalone contributions. All papers must be submitted in PDF and must follow the CoRL format. Templates are available here<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ksqw_9OMiCKEiGmoaqn3QCuqcRpgtZ5a/view>. All papers will be peer-reviewed (double-blind). Both unpublished original contributions and previously published work may be submitted. All submissions will be made electronically through the Openreview conference system following this link: https://openreview.net/group?id=robot-learning.org/CoRL/2023/Workshop/RoboL… Organizers * Matthew Gombolay, Georgia Institute of Technology * Alessandra Rossi, University of Naples Federico II * Rohan Paleja, Georgia Institute of Technology * Zulfiqar Zaidi, Georgia Institute of Technology * Georgios Angelopoulos, University of Naples Federico II * Kin Man Lee, Georgia Institute of Technology Contacts All questions about submissions should be emailed to any of the following people: * Zulfiqar Haider Zaidi (email: zzaidi8(a)gatech.edu<mailto:zzaidi8@gatech.edu>) * Rohan Paleja (email: rpaleja3(a)gatech.edu<mailto:rpaleja3@gatech.edu>) Zulfiqar Zaidi, Robotics Ph.D. Student Georgia Institute of Technology

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RoboCup SPL Newsletter Nr. 1 2024
by Stefan Seering 20 Sep '23

20 Sep '23

Dear RoboCup SPL Teams, We hope you enjoyed RoboCup 2023 and had some time to relax from the exciting competition in France. While the competition of RoboCup 2023 is over by now, some work is still to be done: We want to remind you that the SPL Competition *requires a Code Release from all teams by 15th October 2023*. Please see Section A.7 of the Rules document for details <https://spl.robocup.org/wp-content/uploads/SPL-Rules-2023.pdf> and announce it via the robocup-nao(a)lists.robocup.org mailing list. (Teams that already have published a release can ignore this reminder.) We also want to update you on the work that is being done towards RoboCup 2024. The TC has been discussing the feedback from team leaders and rule change suggestions. Based on the discussions, the following is planned for the 2024 competition: * The standard penalty procedure will be simplified. A robot will be placed at the sidelines, facing towards the field. After the penalty time has passed, the GC Operator returns the robot to play, so it can walk into the playing area without any interaction by assistant referees. * To promote more dynamic ball handling, rule modifications will now enforce that, following each stoppage of play or kick-off, two distinct robots from the same team must make contact with the ball in order for a goal to be considered valid. This represents a revision to the indirect kick rule. * As a first step for the broader implementation of statistical game analysis, the upcoming competition will extend the scope of the video/game analysis challenge featured in past competitions. Following each game, statistics will be computed, and teams will be evaluated/scored based on specific statistics chosen by the TC. * We invite participating teams to collaborate with us in developing tools to monitor the SPL's progress within this challenge. If you want your framework to be considered for this, reach out to the TC. * Towards the RoboCup 2050 goal of robots playing with human players, we plan to hold a technical challenge in which fully autonomous NAOs play alongside remote-controlled NAOs. You can expect further details on the upcoming changes as the TC will release draft versions of the rules document As the Nao v6 becomes older, we need to plan ahead for its replacement. To begin, we want to create a discussion on the SPL Discord server on channel Platform-evolution <https://discord.com/channels/721967993860521996/1153394972234616873>. The idea would be mostly to create a list of products or projects in development that could be interesting to investigate. Points to consider : Similar pricing to Nao, support, availability, etc. Best regards Stefan Seering on behalf of the RoboCup SPL TC and OC.

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rUNSWift 2023 code release
by Mikhail Asavkin 01 Sep '23

01 Sep '23

Hello, I'd like to let you know that rUNSWift 2023 code release is available here https://github.com/UNSWComputing/rUNSWift-2023-release Kind regards, Mikhail.

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RoHOW -- Dezember 1st - 3rd, 2023
by Maximilian Schmidt 17 Aug '23

17 Aug '23

Dear RoboCup Teams, Get ready to mark your calendars and recharge your robotic spirits, because the 10th Robotic Hamburg Open Workshop (RoHOW) 2023 is back! After a brief time-out in an online session, we are thrilled to announce that this year's RoHOW will be an in-person gathering hosted at the Hamburg University of Technology. *Save the Date*: December 1st - 3rd, 2023 RoHOW has consistently been an event of learning, knowledge transfer, and friendship in the RoboCup community. Join us for three days packed with workshops, thought-provoking discussions, and the chance to connect with like-minded robotics enthusiasts while enjoying a cold beer or soft drink. Grab the chance to test your new ideas on the full-size SPL field throughout the weekend. Stay tuned for forthcoming updates, including the official call for participation, detailed schedules, venue address, and more. We will keep you updated on any news. You can already find the event's website on https://rohow.de/2023/en/. Have questions, suggestions, or ideas? We're all ears! Feel free to drop us an email. We can't wait to see you in the vibrant city of Hamburg this December, Team HULKs -- Maximilian Schmidt 1. stellv. Vorsitzender HULKs e.V. Am Schwarzenberg-Campus 3 21073 Hamburg E-Mail: maximilian.schmidt(a)tuhh.de Mobil: +49 152 341 639 72 Web: https://hulks.de

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RoboCup Brazil Open 2023
by Patricia Vergara 29 Jun '23

29 Jun '23

Good morning! Registrations are now open for RoboCup Brazil Open 2023! The event will occur from October 7th to 12th at the* Salvador Convention Center in Salvador, Bahia*. Registrations can be made through the website: http://olimpo.robocup.org.br/. RoboCup Brazil Open is a large event that also includes the Brazilian Robotics Competition, the Brazilian Robotics Olympiad, and the Brazilian Robotics Exhibition. In addition, the following meetings will be held during the event: XV Brazilian Robotics Symposium XIV Workshop on Educational Robotics Thesis and Dissertation Workshop in Robotics Thesis and Dissertation Contest in Robotics IEEE Latin American Robotics Symposium All rules and challenges for each category are available on our website, as well as the updated registration fees and deadlines for TDP submission. >> Some categories will be in a hybrid format, allowing teams to participate remotely when necessary. >> All information is available on our website: www.cbrobotica.org and www.robotica.org.br ________________________________ Best regards, Robocup Brazil Team -- Patrícia Vergara Comunicação RoboCup Brasil (11) 9.8686-4993 (apenas whatsapp) www.robocup.org.br

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BadgerBots Usage of B-Human 2022 Code Release
by Josiah Hanna 14 Jun '23

14 Jun '23

Dear RoboCup 2023 Standard Platform League Technical Committee and SPL teams, We are team BadgerBots, a new SPL team from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. In accordance with the terms and conditions of the B-Human code release 2022 license, we wish to announce the use of B-Human’s 2022 code release. Our codebase is built upon B-Human’s codebase infrastructure and uses B-Human modules for walking, perception, Skills and Cards behavior architecture, whistle recognition, and simulation tools. Our main original contribution is the development of team coordination, strategy and individual robot behaviors using deep reinforcement learning, including necessary code for learning these behaviors and appropriate safety layers for the robot’s decisions. Additionally we use our own dynamic role switching code. We wish to thank B-Human for releasing their code which has been invaluable for enabling a first-time team to participate in RoboCup SPL. We further wish to thank members of the B-Human team for supporting our use and providing guidance on the use of their code. Kind regards, Josiah Hanna -- BadgerBots Team Leader

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Rinobot-Jaguar Code Usage
by Rinobot UFJF 04 Jun '23

04 Jun '23

Dear RoboCup SPL teams, I hope this email finds you well. I am writing on behalf of our SPL team, Rinobot-Jaguar, to inform the community about our Code Usage. For the upcoming competition we are willing to use the HTWK Motion engine <https://github.com/NaoHTWK/HTWKMotion> and Lola Connector <https://github.com/NaoHTWK/LolaConnector>. We would like to express our gratitude to the HTWK team for their outstanding work and their commitment to the RoboCup community. Their contribution has been invaluable in supporting our team's progress. Thank you for your attention, and we look forward to interacting with all of you in the upcoming RoboCup events. Sincerely, Samuel Abreu Rinobot-Jaguar -- *RINOBOT TEAM* Equipe de competição de Robótica da UFJF CNPJ: 31.535.911/0001-47

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DutchNaoTeam announce HULKs code usage
by Gijs de Jong 04 Jun '23

04 Jun '23

Dear RoboCup 2023 Standard Platform League Technical Committee, Dear RoboCup SPL teams, In accordance with the terms and conditions of the HULKs license, the Dutch Nao Team announces the use of HULKs code for the RoboCup 2023. We use the HULKs framework, including walking, whistle detection, ball detection, localisation and behaviours. We modified and use our own implementation of: - Robot-to-robot communication - GameController communication - Behaviours We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to the HULKs Team for graciously sharing their code and significantly contributing to the RoboCup SPL, fostering collaboration and innovation within the robotic soccer community! Kind regards, Gijs de Jong Technical Lead - Dutch Nao Team

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SPQR Team announce B-Human 2021 code usage
by Vincenzo Suriani 02 Jun '23

02 Jun '23

Dear RoboCup 2023 Standard Platform League Technical Committee, Dear RoboCup SPL teams, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the B-Human code release 2021's license, the SPQR Team announces the use of the B-Human code from the release 2021 for the RoboCup 2023. We use some of the native B-Human modules including walking, simulation, whistle recognition, calibration, and the Skills and Card behavior design system. Instead, we use our own code for coordination, multi-robot distributed decision-making, and part of the robot's perception. The following parts of the SPQR Team code are original: - Visual perception (Ball Perception <https://github.com/SPQRTeam/SPQRBallPerceptor>, Robot perception, Referee gesture recognition) - Team coordination and strategy, including planners <https://github.com/EmanueleMusumeci/RoboCup-coach> - Behaviors - Motion primitives (besides get-ups) and ball-approaching controller The following parts are modifications of the original B-Human code: - Dynamic network adaptation - Data fusion among the robots We would like to thank the B-Human Team for sharing their code and acknowledge their contribution to the RoboCup SPL. Kind regards, Vincenzo Suriani - team leader SPQR Team

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RedBackBots Code-Use Notification
by Timothy Wiley 02 Jun '23

02 Jun '23

Dear RoboCup SPL Teams, The RMIT University RedbackBots team is excited as we gear up for our participation in the main competition at the 2023 RoboCup SPL Tournament in Bordeaux, France. Today, we would like to express our gratitude and acknowledge contributions from various sources that have shaped the codebase for the RMIT University RedbackBots in 2023. We acknowledge the use of the 2019 code release of rUNSWift, in accordance with the license conditions, as the foundation of our codebase. We also acknowledge their support in running aspects of their codebase and providing training data/models for vision modules. RedBackBots has made significant enhancements to robot behaviours, skills, audio detection, communication, and various code adaptations throughout. We have notable focus on adapting the build and sync scripts, vision, and infrastructure. We acknowledge the use of the Build infrastructure from the B-Human 2022 code release, in accordance with the license conditions. Specifically, we note the use of the infrastructure to build and create a bootable Nao-Image, and the use of the Nao V6 Camera driver that is compatible with the Nao-image. We also acknowledge the contributions of NaoDevils to this infrastructure. We have integrated this infrastructure with the rUNSWift codebase and intend to release this work as part of the requirements of the 2023 rules. We have also acknowledged this code-use in our SPL qualification application. The expertise and insights of these teams, and the wider RoboCup SPL community has been a substantial aid in our team's software development. We are keen to contribute to the advancement of the RoboCup community. We look forward to joining the community in person, forging new friendships, and witnessing outstanding robot soccer matches. Sincerely, RedbackBots School of Computing Technologies, RMIT University Dr. Timothy Wiley | Lecturer, School of Computing Technologies | RMIT University Building 14, Level 11 (City Campus) | Homepage<https://timothy-wiley.github.io> | CIAIRI<https://www.rmit.edu.au/research/centres-collaborations/centre-for-industri…> | AI Innovation Lab<http://rmit.edu.au/ailab>

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[meetings][CFP] EXTENDED Deadline for paper submission at the 26th RoboCup International Symposium
by Alessandra Rossi 18 Apr '23

18 Apr '23

Dear colleagues, *Apologies for any cross-posting* Please notice that the paper submission deadline has been extended to *01 May 2023*. The *26th RoboCup International **Symposium* will be held on 10 July 2023, in conjunction with RoboCup 2023 (July 4 to 10, 2023) in Bordeaux, France. *Conference website* https://2023.robocup.org/en/symposium/ *Submission link* https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcsymposium2023 *Submission deadline* May 1, 2023 Please find attached the full call for proposals and papers for *the International **Symposium 2023*. Kindest regards, Alessandra Rossi, Cédric Buche, Marco Simões, Ubbo Visser [image: image.png] The 26th RoboCup International Symposium will be held on *10 July 2023*, in conjunction with RoboCup 2023 (July 4 to 10, 2023) in Bordeaux, France. We are looking for submissions of papers reporting innovative and original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence. A full list of topics welcomed to this year's symposium can be found below. Within the described scope of topics, we also encourage submissions of high-quality overview articles, papers describing real-world research, and papers reporting theoretical results. Researchers are invited to submit their work independently of whether they participate in the RoboCup competitions or have a RoboCup team. The symposium is planned to be held in person in Bordeaux, France. However, a hybrid version will be evaluated in case circumstances should require it. In addition to the *regular track* with regular research papers, the *development track* encourages reports on innovative hardware developments, software frameworks, and open-source releases of software components. A review of papers describing these contributions will be based on technical aspects and benefits to the practice of communities specifically working in RoboCup. *Submission deadline:* May 1st, 2023 List of Topics - Robot Hardware and Software - mobile robotics - humanoid robotics - sensors and actuators - embedded and mobile devices - robot construction and new materials - robot system integration - robot software architectures - robot programming environments and languages - real-time and concurrent programming - robot simulators - sim2real learning - Perception and Action - 3D perception - distributed sensor integration - sensor noise filtering - real-time image processing and pattern recognition - motion and sensor models - sensory-motor control - robot kinematics and dynamics - high-dimensional motion control - Robot Cognition and Learning - world modelling and knowledge representation - learning from demonstration and imitation - localisation, navigation, and mapping - planning and reasoning - decision making under uncertainty - neural systems and deep learning - complex motor skill acquisition - reinforcement learning and optimisation - motion and sensor model learning - Human-Robot Interaction - robot social intelligence - fluency of interaction - speech synthesis and natural language generation - natural language recognition - explainable robot behaviours - emotion recognition and reaction - understanding human intent and behaviour - safety, security and dependability - enabling humans to predict robot behaviour - Multi-Robot Systems - team coordination methods - communication protocols - learning and adaptive systems - teamwork and heterogeneous agents - dynamic resource allocation - adjustable autonomy - Education and Edutainment - robotics and artificial intelligence education - educational robotics - robot kits and programming tools - robotic entertainment - Applications and Benchmarking - search and rescue robots - robot surveillance service and social robots - robots at home, at work and in public spaces - robots in the real world - performance metrics - human-robot interaction Submission Guidelines All papers will be peer-reviewed and evaluated by members of the senior program committee. The proceedings of the RoboCup International Symposium will be published and archived within the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) series by Springer-Verlag after the conference. Papers should be formatted following the LNAI author guidelines ( *https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines* <https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…>) and must be electronically submitted through the EasyChair electronic submission system ( *https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=rcsymposium2023* <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcsymposium2023>). Submissions are limited to 12 pages including references. Springer’s proceedings LaTeX templates are also available in Overleaf: *https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-science/kzwwpvhwnvfj* <https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-…> Invited Speakers - Laurence Devillers, Sorbonne University, France *(confirmed)* - Cynthia Breazeal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA *(confirmed)* Committees Organizing committee - Cédric Buche, CNRS/ENIB, France - cedric.buche(a)enib.fr - Alessandra Rossi, University of Naples Federico II, Italy - a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk - Marco Simões, Universidade do Estado da Bahia, Brazil - msimoes(a)uneb.br - Ubbo Visser, University of Miami, USA - visser(a)cs.miami.edu Venue The conference will be held in the Bordeaux Exhibition Center (Parc des Expositions de Bordeaux), Bordeaux, France. Contact Please feel free to ask for further information by emailing Alessandra Rossi - a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk

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B-Human service subscriptions
by Thomas Röfer 01 Apr '23

01 Apr '23

Dear members of the RoboCup SPL Community, we are excited to announce the availability of three new tiers of service subscriptions. Our goal is to help you improve and progress the league by providing you with valuable resources, support, and access to our team of experts. Our three tiers are designed to cater to different needs, from a base start so that you can 'hit the ground running' to strategy sessions with experienced SPL participants. To apply for any of these tiers, please fill out the form on our website<https://b-human.de/subscriptions.html> [1], selecting the tier and season you are interested in. We will get back to you as soon as possible. We hope that these offerings will help you and your team excel in the upcoming RoboCup competition. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. Best regards, Team B-Human [1] https://b-human.de/subscriptions.html

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[meetings][CFP] Third call for papers at the 26th RoboCup International Symposium
by Marco Simões 01 Apr '23

01 Apr '23

Dear colleagues, *Apologies for any cross-posting* We are very pleased to invite you to the *26th RoboCup International * *Symposium* will be held on 10 July 2023, in conjunction with RoboCup 2023 (July 4 to 10, 2023) in Bordeaux, France. *Conference website* https://2023.robocup.org/en/symposium/ *Submission link* https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcsymposium2023 *Submission deadline* *April 16, 2023* Please find attached the full call for proposals and papers for *the International **Symposium 2023*. Kindest regards, Alessandra Rossi, Cédric Buche, Marco Simões, Ubbo Visser [image: image.png] The 26th RoboCup International Symposium will be held on *10 July 2023*, in conjunction with RoboCup 2023 (July 4 to 10, 2023) in Bordeaux, France. We are looking for submissions of papers reporting innovative and original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence. A full list of topics welcomed to this year's symposium can be found below. Within the described scope of topics, we also encourage submissions of high-quality overview articles, papers describing real-world research, and papers reporting theoretical results. Researchers are invited to submit their work independently of whether they participate in the RoboCup competitions or have a RoboCup team. The symposium is planned to be held in person in Bordeaux, France. However, a hybrid version will be evaluated in case circumstances should require it. In addition to the *regular track* with regular research papers, the *development track* encourages reports on innovative hardware developments, software frameworks, and open-source releases of software components. A review of papers describing these contributions will be based on technical aspects and benefits to the practice of communities specifically working in RoboCup. *Submission deadline:* April 16, 2023 List of Topics - Robot Hardware and Software - mobile robotics - humanoid robotics - sensors and actuators - embedded and mobile devices - robot construction and new materials - robot system integration - robot software architectures - robot programming environments and languages - real-time and concurrent programming - robot simulators - sim2real learning - Perception and Action - 3D perception - distributed sensor integration - sensor noise filtering - real-time image processing and pattern recognition - motion and sensor models - sensory-motor control - robot kinematics and dynamics - high-dimensional motion control - Robot Cognition and Learning - world modelling and knowledge representation - learning from demonstration and imitation - localisation, navigation, and mapping - planning and reasoning - decision making under uncertainty - neural systems and deep learning - complex motor skill acquisition - reinforcement learning and optimisation - motion and sensor model learning - Human-Robot Interaction - robot social intelligence - fluency of interaction - speech synthesis and natural language generation - natural language recognition - explainable robot behaviours - emotion recognition and reaction - understanding human intent and behaviour - safety, security and dependability - enabling humans to predict robot behaviour - Multi-Robot Systems - team coordination methods - communication protocols - learning and adaptive systems - teamwork and heterogeneous agents - dynamic resource allocation - adjustable autonomy - Education and Edutainment - robotics and artificial intelligence education - educational robotics - robot kits and programming tools - robotic entertainment - Applications and Benchmarking - search and rescue robots - robot surveillance service and social robots - robots at home, at work and in public spaces - robots in the real world - performance metrics - human-robot interaction Submission Guidelines All papers will be peer-reviewed and evaluated by members of the senior program committee. The proceedings of the RoboCup International Symposium will be published and archived within the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) series by Springer-Verlag after the conference. Papers should be formatted following the LNAI author guidelines ( *https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines* <https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…>) and must be electronically submitted through the EasyChair electronic submission system ( *https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=rcsymposium2023* <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcsymposium2023>). Submissions are limited to 12 pages including references. Springer’s proceedings LaTeX templates are also available in Overleaf: *https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-science/kzwwpvhwnvfj* <https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-…> Invited Speakers - Laurence Devillers, Sorbonne University, France *(confirmed)* - Cynthia Breazeal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA *(confirmed)* Committees Organizing committee - Cédric Buche, CNRS/ENIB, France - cedric.buche(a)enib.fr - Alessandra Rossi, University of Naples Federico II, Italy - a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk - Marco Simões, Universidade do Estado da Bahia, Brazil - msimoes(a)uneb.br - Ubbo Visser, University of Miami, USA - visser(a)cs.miami.edu Venue The conference will be held in the Bordeaux Exhibition Center (Parc des Expositions de Bordeaux), Bordeaux, France. Contact Please feel free to ask for further information by emailing Alessandra Rossi - a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk -- Dr. Marco Antonio Costa Simões Centro de Pesquisa em Arquitetura de Computadores, Sistemas Inteligentes e Robótica - ACSO - http://www.acso.uneb.br Bahia Robotics Team - http://www.acso.uneb.br/bahiart Universidade do Estado da Bahia - UNEB Ciência da Computação, Ph.D.

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National Robotics Festival - Portugal
by Patricia Vergara 29 Mar '23

29 Mar '23

Hello good morning: We are almost ready for the 23rd edition of the National Robotics Festival - Portugal - FNR’2023 event. We are pleased to address this invitation to invite you to participate in the 2023 Portuguese Robotics Open (FNR'2023) which is promoted by the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (IPT) and the Portuguese Robotics Society (SPR) and which will take place at the Municipal Pavilion of Tomar, from April 28 to 30, 2023. Categories: Major: DRAGSTAR FREEBOTS MANIPULADORES ROBÓTICOS ROBOT@FACTORY LITE ROBOT@FACTORY 4.0 CONDUÇÃO AUTÓNOMA LIGA DE SIMULAÇÃO 3D @HOME Junior: RCJ RESCUE SIMULATION ROBOT@FACTORY LITE FIRST CHALLENGER FREEBOTS JÚNIOR ONSTAGE BUSCA E SALVAMENTO – LINHA BUSCA E SALVAMENTO – LABIRINTO ROBOCUP SOCCER (MSL) The registration form is now available on the event's website! If you register before April 2nd, in addition to guaranteeing your spot, you are entitled to a discount on your team's registration. Click the button below for more details and access to our website! https://www.festivalnacionalrobotica.pt/2023/ If you have any questions, you can contact the organization through the official email: info(a)festivalnacionalrobotica.pt We look forward to your participation and present our best regards, The Organizing Committee -- Patrícia Vergara

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Announcement of Code Usage
by Maximilian Schmidt 23 Mar '23

23 Mar '23

Dear fellow SPL-Teams, The GORE is taking place in about a month, and Team HULKs is going to use the neural network weights of the B-Human robot detection. We hereby announce the usage of the HDF5-file [1] containing the weights. Thanks to Team B-Human for contributing to the SPL community with open source code releases. See you at GORE! Team HULKs [1]: https://github.com/bhuman/BHumanCodeRelease/blob/677b53b702fdb6a9ee3285e4f1…

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GORE 2023 - Expression of interest - Reply by 27.02.22
by Arne Moos 25 Feb '23

25 Feb '23

Dear everyone, as many of you have already read, there will be again *NO* German Open this year. To provide a reasonable alternative, the SPL and Humanoid League joined together again to organize a next version of the GORE. The event will take place *in Hamburg at the DESY <https://www.desy.de/research/cooperations__institutes/cfel/index_eng.html> between the 25.04. and 30.04.23*. The setup days will be on the 25th and 26th and the competition days from the 27th to the 30th of April. To get a better feeling about the size of the event, we would like to ask if you and your team would like to participate? /For the SPL:/ * URG/Aldebaran has been contacted, but we are still waiting for an official confirmation that they will be on site. * Remote participation should also be possible, as it was last year. For this we need your help: o *Presence* teams: It would be good if you could also tell us if you would be willing to provide the remote teams with robots as part of a common robot pool. o *Remote* teams: It is not yet clear whether we can realize your participation in the competition. We try to give our best, but it can also be that it ends up with only a few friendly games. We expect the participation to cost about *200€ per team plus 75€ per team member*, we will let you know the exact numbers as soon as we have them, and it is likely to become less again. If you are interested in participating in the GORE 2023, send a reply to gore.organisation(a)gmail.com containing: * Your team's name * Your teams league (SPL or Humanoid) * An approximate count of how many people you will bring? * /SPL:/ Whether you want to participate in presence or remote? * /SPL:/ Are you willing to provide robots for a robot pool? Please send your *replies by February 27th*, so that we can plan better. You will receive further information via upcoming newsletter. See you soon. The GORE 2023 organizing committee. Arne, Jasper, Jörn and Patrick -- M.Sc. Arne Moos Robotics Research Institute Section Information Technology TU Dortmund University Otto-Hahn-Str. 8 44227 Dortmund, Germany arne.moos(a)tu-dortmund.de https://ds.etit.tu-dortmund.de/ Phone: +49 231 755 7047 Fax: +49 231 755 3251 Important note: The information included in this e-mail is confidential. It is solely intended for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail please contact the sender and delete this message. Thank you. Without prejudice of e-mail correspondence, our statements are only legally binding when they are made in the conventional written form (with personal signature) or when such documents are sent by fax.

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[meetings][CFP] Second call for papers at the 26th RoboCup International Symposium
by Alessandra Rossi 13 Feb '23

13 Feb '23

Dear colleagues, *Apologies for any cross-posting* We are very pleased to invite you to the *26th RoboCup International * *Symposium* will be held on 10 July 2023, in conjunction with RoboCup 2023 (July 4 to 10, 2023) in Bordeaux, France. *Conference website* https://2023.robocup.org/en/symposium/ *Submission link* https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcsymposium2023 *Submission deadline* *April 16, 2023* Please find attached the full call for proposals and papers for *the International **Symposium 2023*. Kindest regards, Alessandra Rossi, Cédric Buche, Marco Simões, Ubbo Visser [image: image.png] The 26th RoboCup International Symposium will be held on *10 July 2023*, in conjunction with RoboCup 2023 (July 4 to 10, 2023) in Bordeaux, France. We are looking for submissions of papers reporting innovative and original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence. A full list of topics welcomed to this year's symposium can be found below. Within the described scope of topics, we also encourage submissions of high-quality overview articles, papers describing real-world research, and papers reporting theoretical results. Researchers are invited to submit their work independently of whether they participate in the RoboCup competitions or have a RoboCup team. The symposium is planned to be held in person in Bordeaux, France. However, a hybrid version will be evaluated in case circumstances should require it. In addition to the *regular track* with regular research papers, the *development track* encourages reports on innovative hardware developments, software frameworks, and open-source releases of software components. A review of papers describing these contributions will be based on technical aspects and benefits to the practice of communities specifically working in RoboCup. *Submission deadline:* April 16, 2023 List of Topics - Robot Hardware and Software - mobile robotics - humanoid robotics - sensors and actuators - embedded and mobile devices - robot construction and new materials - robot system integration - robot software architectures - robot programming environments and languages - real-time and concurrent programming - robot simulators - sim2real learning - Perception and Action - 3D perception - distributed sensor integration - sensor noise filtering - real-time image processing and pattern recognition - motion and sensor models - sensory-motor control - robot kinematics and dynamics - high-dimensional motion control - Robot Cognition and Learning - world modelling and knowledge representation - learning from demonstration and imitation - localisation, navigation, and mapping - planning and reasoning - decision making under uncertainty - neural systems and deep learning - complex motor skill acquisition - reinforcement learning and optimisation - motion and sensor model learning - Human-Robot Interaction - robot social intelligence - fluency of interaction - speech synthesis and natural language generation - natural language recognition - explainable robot behaviours - emotion recognition and reaction - understanding human intent and behaviour - safety, security and dependability - enabling humans to predict robot behaviour - Multi-Robot Systems - team coordination methods - communication protocols - learning and adaptive systems - teamwork and heterogeneous agents - dynamic resource allocation - adjustable autonomy - Education and Edutainment - robotics and artificial intelligence education - educational robotics - robot kits and programming tools - robotic entertainment - Applications and Benchmarking - search and rescue robots - robot surveillance service and social robots - robots at home, at work and in public spaces - robots in the real world - performance metrics - human-robot interaction Submission Guidelines All papers will be peer-reviewed and evaluated by members of the senior program committee. The proceedings of the RoboCup International Symposium will be published and archived within the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) series by Springer-Verlag after the conference. Papers should be formatted following the LNAI author guidelines ( *https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines* <https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…>) and must be electronically submitted through the EasyChair electronic submission system ( *https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=rcsymposium2023* <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcsymposium2023>). Submissions are limited to 12 pages including references. Springer’s proceedings LaTeX templates are also available in Overleaf: *https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-science/kzwwpvhwnvfj* <https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-…> Invited Speakers - Laurence Devillers, Sorbonne University, France *(confirmed)* - Cynthia Breazeal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA *(confirmed)* Committees Organizing committee - Cédric Buche, CNRS/ENIB, France - cedric.buche(a)enib.fr - Alessandra Rossi, University of Naples Federico II, Italy - a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk - Marco Simões, Universidade do Estado da Bahia, Brazil - msimoes(a)uneb.br - Ubbo Visser, University of Miami, USA - visser(a)cs.miami.edu Venue The conference will be held in the Bordeaux Exhibition Center (Parc des Expositions de Bordeaux), Bordeaux, France. Contact Please feel free to ask for further information by emailing Alessandra Rossi - a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk

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Reminder: RoboCup SPL Call for Applications for Participation 2023
by Stefan Seering 09 Feb '23

09 Feb '23

Call for Applications for Participation 2023 - RoboCup Standard Platform League Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2023 Standard Platform League spl.robocup.org <https://spl.robocup.org/> Tuesday 4th July through Monday 10th July 2023 Bordeaux, France Further details can be found in the full CfP <https://spl.robocup.org/call-for-applications-for-participation-2023/>. All applications with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by 15th of February 2023. To clarify some potentially confusing wording for the application process of pre-qualified teams: The code release should encompass features the teams has developed for the RoboCup 2022 competition. Additional info requested: In your application please state your robot purchase plans. State how many NAO robots your team plans to buy this year. /RoboCup 2023 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees/

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Reminder: RoboCup SPL Call for Applications for Participation 2023
by Stefan Seering 01 Feb '23

01 Feb '23

Call for Applications for Participation 2023 - RoboCup Standard Platform League Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2023 Standard Platform League spl.robocup.org <https://spl.robocup.org/> Tuesday 4th July through Monday 10th July 2023 Bordeaux, France Further details can be found in the full CfP <https://spl.robocup.org/call-for-applications-for-participation-2023/>. All applications with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by 15th of February 2023. /RoboCup 2023 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees/

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Newsletter RoboCup SPL 2023/1
by Patrick Göttsch 23 Jan '23

23 Jan '23

# RoboCup SPL - Newsletter 2023/1 Dear Teams, 2023 has started and we are already in the third week. Less than six months until we meet again. This time in Bordeaux. During the next months you will receive further newsletters updating you with recent information and reminding you about important tasks. We wish you and your team all the best and hope to see your application for RoboCup 2023 soon in <a href="mailto:rc-spl-tc@lists.robocup.org">our mailbox</a>. Best regards, Your OC & TC ## Reminder Call for Participation The deadline for submitting your application for RoboCup 2023 is approaching (2023-02-15). We encourage every team which is interested in participating in SPL at RoboCup 2023 to submit their application. Even if you are unsure about your funding situation or facing other issues, please submit your application with a note about your issues. We will try our best to support you. **Important**: The <a href="https://spl.robocup.org/call-for-applications-for-participation-2023/">application process</a> has been slightly changed. Please review your submissions. ## Timeline towards RoboCup 2023 Here are some important dates listed: - 2023-01-20: Rule Book - 2023-02-15: Application deadline - 2023-02-28: Announcement of (preliminary, i.e. including "on probation") qualification decisions - 2023-03-15: Additional qualification material deadline for "on probation" teams - 2023-03-31: Final qualification decisions - 2023-05-01: Jersey submission by teams - 2023-05-14: DBHC defender image deadline - 2023-05-31: Release of the official DBHC defender images - 2023-06-01: Announcement of major color by teams - 2023-06-15: Announcement of the competition mode at RoboCup 2023 - 2023-06-XX: Referee Workshop - 2023-07-04: RoboCup 2023 starts ## Discord We ask all teams of the RoboCup SPL to register for the <a href="https://discord.gg/SfQ5AzD4jj">SPL Discord Server</a>. Before and during RoboCup it will be an important communication channel to stay in contact with you and your team members and to connect all teams with each other. It will also be used for announcements and challenge execution coordination. ## Rules Drafts of the 2023 rule book and technical challenges are published <a href="https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/#2023" >on the SPL website</a>. If you have questions, have found an issue, or have a proposal, please submit an issue to <a href="https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/Rules">the Rules repository</a>. ## Jerseys As you might have seen, the rules for the jerseys have been changed. The Champions Cup will play 7 vs. 7 by default and the goalkeeper has to wear a jersey of different colour. A jersey of a third colour is needed for this purpose. If you can't manufacture a third colour until RoboCup: the TC/OC can provide you with standard red or blue jerseys with number one. ## Community Defender Images This year we are going to have a revised version of last year's Dynamic Ball Handling Challenge. Similar to last year, we ask teams to prepare Defender images for this challenge. If you want to start preparations for this challenge already: you can use the defender images from last year until the new images are available and the GameController version is updated. You can download them from the following links: https://b-human.informatik.uni-bremen.de/public/DynamicBallHandlingDefender/ https://openlarry.de/-C3j8NDz2jdjCfjd ## Code Releases from Open Research Challenge 2022 The code releases of the three highest ranked teams in the Open Research Challenge 2022 are available at https://spl.robocup.org/rc2022/#open-research-challenge.

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[meetings][CFP] First call for papers at the 26th RoboCup International Symposium
by Alessandra Rossi 04 Jan '23

04 Jan '23

Dear colleagues, *Apologies for any cross-posting* We are very pleased to invite you to the *26th RoboCup International * *Symposium* will be held on 10 July 2023, in conjunction with RoboCup 2023 (July 4 to 10, 2023) in Bordeaux, France. *Conference website* https://2023.robocup.org/en/symposium/ *Submission link* https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcsymposium2023 *Submission deadline* April 16, 2023 Please find attached the full call for proposals and papers for *the International **Symposium 2023*. Kindest regards, Alessandra Rossi, Cédric Buche, Marco Simões, Ubbo Visser [image: image.png] The 26th RoboCup International Symposium will be held on *10 July 2023*, in conjunction with RoboCup 2023 (July 4 to 10, 2023) in Bordeaux, France. We are looking for submissions of papers reporting innovative and original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence. A full list of topics welcomed to this year's symposium can be found below. Within the described scope of topics, we also encourage submissions of high-quality overview articles, papers describing real-world research, and papers reporting theoretical results. Researchers are invited to submit their work independently of whether they participate in the RoboCup competitions or have a RoboCup team. The symposium is planned to be held in person in Bordeaux, France. However, a hybrid version will be evaluated in case circumstances should require it. In addition to the *regular track* with regular research papers, the *development track* encourages reports on innovative hardware developments, software frameworks, and open-source releases of software components. A review of papers describing these contributions will be based on technical aspects and benefits to the practice of communities specifically working in RoboCup. *Submission deadline:* April 16, 2023 List of Topics - Robot Hardware and Software - mobile robotics - humanoid robotics - sensors and actuators - embedded and mobile devices - robot construction and new materials - robot system integration - robot software architectures - robot programming environments and languages - real-time and concurrent programming - robot simulators - sim2real learning - Perception and Action - 3D perception - distributed sensor integration - sensor noise filtering - real-time image processing and pattern recognition - motion and sensor models - sensory-motor control - robot kinematics and dynamics - high-dimensional motion control - Robot Cognition and Learning - world modelling and knowledge representation - learning from demonstration and imitation - localisation, navigation, and mapping - planning and reasoning - decision making under uncertainty - neural systems and deep learning - complex motor skill acquisition - reinforcement learning and optimisation - motion and sensor model learning - Human-Robot Interaction - robot social intelligence - fluency of interaction - speech synthesis and natural language generation - natural language recognition - explainable robot behaviours - emotion recognition and reaction - understanding human intent and behaviour - safety, security and dependability - enabling humans to predict robot behaviour - Multi-Robot Systems - team coordination methods - communication protocols - learning and adaptive systems - teamwork and heterogeneous agents - dynamic resource allocation - adjustable autonomy - Education and Edutainment - robotics and artificial intelligence education - educational robotics - robot kits and programming tools - robotic entertainment - Applications and Benchmarking - search and rescue robots - robot surveillance service and social robots - robots at home, at work and in public spaces - robots in the real world - performance metrics - human-robot interaction Submission Guidelines All papers will be peer-reviewed and evaluated by members of the senior program committee. The proceedings of the RoboCup International Symposium will be published and archived within the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) series by Springer-Verlag after the conference. Papers should be formatted following the LNAI author guidelines ( *https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines* <https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…>) and must be electronically submitted through the EasyChair electronic submission system ( *https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=rcsymposium2023* <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcsymposium2023>). Submissions are limited to 12 pages including references. Springer’s proceedings LaTeX templates are also available in Overleaf: *https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-science/kzwwpvhwnvfj* <https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-…> Invited Speakers - Laurence Devillers, Sorbonne University, France *(confirmed)* - Cynthia Breazeal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA *(confirmed)* Committees Organizing committee - Cédric Buche, CNRS/ENIB, France - cedric.buche(a)enib.fr - Alessandra Rossi, University of Naples Federico II, Italy - a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk - Marco Simões, Universidade do Estado da Bahia, Brazil - msimoes(a)uneb.br - Ubbo Visser, University of Miami, USA - visser(a)cs.miami.edu Venue The conference will be held in the Bordeaux Exhibition Center (Parc des Expositions de Bordeaux), Bordeaux, France. Contact Please feel free to ask for further information by emailing Alessandra Rossi - a.rossi(a)herts.ac.uk

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RoboCup SPL Call for Applications for Participation 2023
by Stefan Seering 17 Dec '22

17 Dec '22

Call for Applications for Participation 2023 - RoboCup Standard Platform League Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2023 Standard Platform League spl.robocup.org <https://spl.robocup.org/> Tuesday 4th July through Monday 10th July 2023 Bordeaux, France 2023.robocup.org <https://2023.robocup.org> RoboCup <https://www.robocup.org/> is an international initiative that fosters research and education in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions (RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupIndustrial, RoboCupJunior) involving mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCupSoccer currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. *The Standard Platform League (SPL)* is characterized by all the teams using an identical robot platform. Participating researchers focus on algorithmic development for fully autonomous robots, i.e., robots that operate with no external control. The SPL robot soccer team competition games at RoboCup 2023 will be played between teams of fully autonomous NAO robots. Participating teams may use V6, V5 or older versions of the NAO humanoid robot manufactured by Aldebaran <https://www.aldebaran.com/en/nao>. Teams should be able to play on a randomly assigned field within one hour. The RoboCup 2023 SPL will host: * A soccer team competition as the main competition of the event. * A visual referee technical challenge. * A dynamic ball handling technical challenge. * The introduction of at least one in-game challenge: network data minimization. The soccer team competition will consist of a similar number of games for most teams compared to recent years. A rule book will be released by 15th of January 2023 on the downloads page <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. The league operates two divisions: Champions Cup (CC) and Challenge Shield (CS). Teams in the champions cup division will compete in 7 vs. 7 matches. Teams in the challenge shield division will compete in 5 vs. 5 matches. Teams will be assigned to CC and CS based on previous results during the application phase. New teams will be assigned to the CS. The teams participating in the team competition should also compete in some of the additional technical challenges. Technical challenges offered at the competition are the visual referee challenge and the dynamic ball handling challenge. Both challenges are continuations of previous challenges with modified rules. Teams are encouraged to improve their skills in these challenges so aspects of these challenges can be included in the main competition in future years. More details regarding technical challenges will be given in the rule book <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. This competition introduces one in-game challenge: network data minimization. In-game challenges are scored during regular matches of the main soccer team competition. The amount of network data sent of participating teams during matches will be scored. Teams will be ranked according to their score, the goal being to use as little data as possible. More details regarding in-game challenges will be given in the rule book <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. Joining the League The league is always ready to welcome new teams. If you consider joining: the league has prepared information for you <https://spl.robocup.org/joining-robocup-spl/> to support you in your first steps. We encourage you to contact the organizing committees and other teams if you have questions. To assist in adoption of NAO V6 robots, source code examples and documentation regarding V6 robots were published on the SPL website <https://spl.robocup.org/v6-support/>. One can also find example code working with V6 robots in the code released by participating teams. If you need access to the RoboCup NAOqi Image and the specific documentation, please write an email (mentioning your team affiliation) to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. Qualification All interested teams must apply by sending an email to the Technical Committee (see below). A valid application must contain: 1. *Team Description Paper:* See below. The TDP must be *attached as PDF file* to the email. 2. *Preference to compete in the Champions Cup or Challenge Shield:* State whether you prefer to compete in CC or CS. If you prefer to compete in CS, please state if you would accept an assignment to CC to balance the competition. 3. *Video presentation:* Include a link to a video (maximum 5 minutes long, uploaded on the team’s web site or on some video server) that demonstrates the status of the team. The organizing committees use the video to determine the readiness of the team to compete effectively, and hence should focus on the team’s ability to play soccer. Teams who did not participate in the team competition at RoboCup 2022 *must* include footage of at least one robot attempting to kick off and score (this footage must be captured as a single wide shot with no cuts). If robots from multiple teams are active in the footage (e.g., game footage), please include a textual overlay or additional document denoting which robots belong to the applying team for every scene. Videos of simulation contributions will also be accepted, but only when a real robot is unavailable. Preference will be given to teams that use real robots to show soccer skills in their video. Pre-Qualification Teams that reached the quarter-finals or finished in the top 5 of the technical challenges at RoboCup 2022 will be pre-qualified for RoboCup 2023, if they submit a valid application as detailed below. The following teams can make use of pre-qualification: * Bembelbots * B-Human * HTWK Robots * HULKs * Nao Devils * NomadZ * rUNSWift * SPQR Team * UT Austin Villa A valid application for pre-qualified teams must contain: 1. *Team Description Paper:* See below. The TDP must be *attached as PDF file* to the email. 2. *Preference to compete in the Champions Cup or Challenge Shield:* State whether you prefer to compete in CC or CS. If you prefer to compete in CS, please state if you would accept an assignment to CC to balance the competition. 3. *Code Release:* a link to a public code release as detailed in the 2022 SPL rulebook <https://spl.robocup.org/wp-content/uploads/SPL-Rules-2022.pdf>. If a joint 2022 team splits, only one team can be pre-qualified for 2023 (please indicate which one). Team Description Paper Both regular and pre-qualified teams must submit a team description paper (TDP) attached as PDF file to their application email. For the TDP to be considered, it must: * be formatted according to the *Springer LNCS author guidelines <https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…>*. * be no longer than *8 pages* (including references). * be structured in the following *sections with the specified headings*: 1. *Team Information:* o team name (the one true spelling, considering capitalization, spaces, hyphens, etc.) o team leader(s) o team contact email address o team website URL (if available) o country of origin o university/company affiliation(s) of the team 2. *Code Usage:* Acknowledge the team’s use of any other team’s code (1) previously from 2018 to present and (2) anticipated at RoboCup 2023. If code is used from other teams, is this code integrated into a code base that is mainly designed by the applying team? If the applying team does not use any other team’s code, state so. For further details, please have a look into the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 3. *Own Contribution:* Describe in detail the ‘research publishable’ significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2023, in accordance with the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 4. *Past History:* provide game results in RoboCup Open competitions as well as main RoboCup competitions from 2019 onward. Include opponents and game scores from each competition in a table. State if the team plans to participate in any RoboCup Open competitions or friendlies prior to RoboCup 2023. 5. *Impact:* What is the impact of the team’s participation and research in RoboCup on (1) the SPL, (2) the team’s university/community? 6. *Other:* Present any other information that you believe supports your application. Please note that the TDP is not a reviewed publication and will not appear in any collection apart from the RoboCup TDP archive <https://tdp.robocup.org>. Qualification for Regional Opens Only Teams may also submit a short intent to participate in a regional open if they do not wish to participate in the 2023 RoboCup competition. Although teams may participate in regional opens without submitting this intent to participate, teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified may be eligible for future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for teams competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced as soon as offers and conditions are finalized. Teams must submit the following information by 15th of February 2023: (1) The team name, leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team and (2) a short statement describing the status/progress of the team. A link to a short video showing robot soccer behaviours and/or game play (using robots or in simulation) may be included if available. Submission and Evaluation All applications with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by *15th of February 2023*, by email to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. Please use a subject matching the pattern *RoboCup 2023 Application <team name>*. Applications must not be sent to personal SPL TC/OC email addresses and must not contain video attachments. By submitting your application, you grant the SPL committees the rights to publish the TDP and application video / code release link. Note that applying serves as a statement of commitment to participate in the RoboCup 2023 SPL. The organizing committees are aware of the ongoing COVID situation and assume that all applications are subject to withdrawal due to COVID. Applications are not required to mention uncertainties related to COVID to avoid negative effects on future applications. We would rather encourage teams to plan optimistically and sign up with the possibility of withdrawing if situation requires it. For situations other than COVID: If you have doubts regarding the ability of your team to participate (due to funding, visas, etc.), please apply by the deadline but note this in your application email. Declining to participate in any competition after the official early registration period has opened may negatively affect future applications (the later you decline, the worse it will affect future applications). Teams are encouraged to consider joint participation. Joint proposals will be judged on combined merit. Applications will be evaluated to consider a variety of components including: 1. Potential to play competitive games at RoboCup 2023 (demonstrated ability to play soccer, previous results, etc.) 2. Contributions (and potential contributions) to league (code releases/papers, active in organization, developing own code, etc.) 3. Diversity (region, team make-up, unique characteristics, etc.) Starting with 2023 the competition rules will be changed to require all teams to release novel contributions in form of source code. More details regarding code releases will be given in the rule book <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. All teams can expect to be required to publish a contribution. The form will be similar to the releases required of pre-qualified teams as stated in the 2022 rulebook. As part of the application phase teams will be assigned into the CC and CS divisions. Assignments will be judged based on previous performance and application material. The organizing committees will do their best to honor teams' preferences. However, the necessity might arise to assign teams into divisions against their preference. All teams applying for CC are expected to be able to compete in CS. Teams will be notified during the application phase if they are assigned into a division against their preference Qualification decisions, including alternate lists, will be announced by 28th of February 2023. Robot Acquisition Teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified will be eligible for potential future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for team competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced if offers and conditions are finalized. /RoboCup 2023 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees/

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VRoHOW 2022
by Patrick Göttsch 23 Nov '22

23 Nov '22

Dear fellow Robocuppers, Only two weeks left until this year's vRoHOW! As last year we will use Discord as our virtual venue. If you haven't already, you can join the event server here: https://discord.gg/XrSbTzsYEP The content, i.e. talks, presentations and workshops, will be scheduled after 22:00 UTC+1 on Friday (2022-12-02). Please inform us about your interests and talks via the MOPAD (https://mopad.rohow.de/). You should be able to create an account for yourself by selecting your respective team name. Note that you have to create new accounts for this year. All additional information and schedule is available at rohow.de We are looking forward to see you on Friday (2022-12-02) at 19:00 UTC+1 for the opening ceremony in the Discord TownHall voice channel. Gretings from Hamburg, Team HULKs

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VRoHOW 2022
by Patrick Göttsch 22 Nov '22

22 Nov '22

Dear fellow Robocuppers, Only two weeks left until this year's vRoHOW! As last year we will use Discord as our virtual venue. If you haven't already, you can join the event server here: https://discord.gg/XrSbTzsYEP The content, i.e. talks, presentations and workshops, will be scheduled after 22:00 UTC+1 on Friday (2022-12-02). Please inform us about your interests and talks via the MOPAD (https://mopad.rohow.de/). You should be able to create an account for yourself by selecting your respective team name. Note that you have to create new accounts for this year. All additional information and schedule is available at rohow.de We are looking forward to see you on Friday (2022-12-02) at 19:00 UTC+1 for the opening ceremony in the Discord TownHall voice channel. Gretings from Hamburg, Team HULKs

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B-Human Code Release 2021
by Tim Laue 28 Oct '22

28 Oct '22

Hi RoboCuppers! The team B-Human announces the availability of our 2021 code release at https://github.com/bhuman/BHumanCodeRelease It is the most advanced B-Human code ever! Many thousands of lines of open source code together with a detailed documentation. The software released is a cleaned-up version of the system we used in the 2021 competitions. In contrast to previous years, the documentation is from now on split into two parts: A PDF that briefly describes the approaches that have been implemented since 2019 is located in the GitHub repository. All technical details, such as the installation guide and descriptions of our software architecture and tools, are now in a separate wiki that you can find at https://wiki.b-human.de/coderelease2021/. The improvements that have been made in the previous two years include (but are not limited to): - A fully lighting independent vision system, including - a CNN-based field border detection - A procedure for autonomous camera calibration - A new motion infrastructure - Higher walking stability, based on - improved support foot switching, - in-walk kicks that are capable to adjust to the ball position, and - the detection of walking on another robot’s foot and acting accordingly. Our software is released with its own 3-D simulator. Microsoft Windows 64 bit, Linux 64 bit, and macOS (on Apple Silicon as well as on Intel processors) are fully supported. Please note that the new code is released within the same repository that we used for our previous releases. The old releases are marked with tags in that repository. Furthermore, please also note that our license has changed for the first time in a long while. We strongly believe in sharing our developments and look forward to the code releases of others. Have fun :-) Team B-Human -- _______________________________________________________________ Dr. Tim Laue Multi-Sensor Interactive Systems Group Faculty 3 - Mathematics and Computer Science University of Bremen Cartesium 0.53 Enrique-Schmidt-Str. 5 28359 Bremen www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~timlaue Telephone: +49 (421) 218-64209

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VRoHOW 2022
by Patrick Göttsch 05 Sep '22

05 Sep '22

Dear fellow SPL and Humanoid RoboCup teams, This is the call for participation of the virtual Robotic Hamburg Open Workshop (vRoHOW) 2022. The event will take place virtually over the weekend from 2nd to 4th of December. As usual, the event will be driven by your contributions in the form of talks, presentations and workshops. Once again, Discord will be our venue with multiple rooms and areas prepared. For participation do the following: Send a message to hulks(a)tuhh.de until the 15th of November 2022 expressing your interest in participation. This message should include your team name and a contact person. There will be no participation fee. We are excited to see you at the event! Best regards, Team HULKs

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RoboCup GermanOpen 2023
by Patrick Göttsch 02 Sep '22

02 Sep '22

Dear Teams, currently we start planning the RoboCup GermanOpen 2023 (27.04. - 30.04.2023) this time in Kassel. It is a new place. But to get an estimate of the needed space for tables, chairs and fields, we would like to know, * if you would like to travel to Kassel to participate in RoboCup German Open 2023 and with how many members, * if you would like to participate in RoboCup German Open 2023 remotely (there has no decision made if this will be offered in the end) and you would just send robots. * if you currently do not know. It would be really nice, if you could send me an email by the 11th of September. Kind regards and have a nice weekend, Patrick Göttsch

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B-Human's Video Analysis App
by Thomas Röfer 13 Aug '22

13 Aug '22

Hi, B-Human's contribution to the Video Analysis Challenge is now available at: https://github.com/bhuman/VideoAnalysis <https://github.com/bhuman/VideoAnalysis> We also prepared a simple list that provides links to videos, TCM logs (both hosted on Berlin United’s server), and GameController logs (hosted on our server). It currently only lists games from RoboCup 2018 and 2019, but we plan to add the 2022 games as well as soon as their directory structure on Berlin United’s server is finalized. The list can be found at: https://github.com/bhuman/SPLGames <https://github.com/bhuman/SPLGames> Many thanks to the team Berlin United for recording and hosting the videos and for providing the code for camera calibration that we built on. Also many thanks to Arne Moos for organizing the challenge and all the teams who labeled the images! Have fun! Thomas Röfer (B-Human)

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Registrations are open for RoboCup Brazil Open
by Comunicação RoboCup 28 Jul '22

28 Jul '22

Registrations are open for RoboCup Brazil Open The event will be held in São Bernardo do Campo - São Paulo, Brazil, from october 17 to 22. Remote Participation is available in Simulation Leagues. Registrations are now open for teams all over the world.To participate, the teams must register until july 31, on the website: www.cbrobotica.org . The registration fee is US$ 170 per team or US$100 in simulation leagues. ============== Important Dates: ============== Pre-Registration Deadline: *July 31* TDP Submission: Check each league's schedule on the website or contact the league's chair by e-mail Early Registration:* September 1 to 23* Registration: *September 24 to October 9* If you have any doubt about the pre-registration or registration process, please contact organizacao(a)cbrobotica.org ======= Leagues ======= RoboCup Soccer Simulation 2D RoboCup Soccer Simulation 3D RoboCup Small Size Soccer (SSL) RoboCup Humanoid League RoboCup Standard Platform League RoboCup @Home RoboCupJunior RoboCup Brazil Flying Robots Trial League IEEE Humanoid Racing IEEE Open IEEE Standard Educational Kit IEEE Very Small Size Soccer 3x3 and 5x5 -- Patrícia Vergara Comunicação RoboCup Brasil (11) 9.8686-4993 www.robocup.org.br

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RoboCup Symposium 2022 - Info Room for Satellite Event
by alessandra.rossi＠unina.it 14 Jul '22

14 Jul '22

Dear everyone, The RC-HL satellite event "Open Humanoid Competition" will be in room *Silk 4 *reserved from *19:00 to 21:00* on *14th of July*. You can find the room in the attached floor plan towards the bottom left. Looking forward to seeing you. Kind regards, Alessandra

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Team HULKs are going Open Source
by Hendrik Sieck 13 Jul '22

13 Jul '22

Dear SPL Community, Team HULKs proudly announce that we are open sourcing our entire code base. At the end of last year we started reimplementing our previous C++ software in Rust. We feel RoboCup 2022 is a great opportunity to kick off more transparency in our community and follow the original vision of RoboCup: Beating human players in 2050. We think this is only possible if we work together as a league and share our knowledge. Our current state of development is available at https://github.com/HULKs/HULKsCodeRelease without any exceptions. It is updated every Wednesday evening at ~22:00 UTC and during this RoboCup we will push it daily. A proper documentation will be provided after RoboCup. We are looking forward to your comments and contributions. Team HULKs

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Robot warranties (for European teams)
by Patrick Göttsch 07 Jul '22

07 Jul '22

Hi Teams, The following information is for European teams for which warranty is handled by URG. I'll send a separate email concerning warranties for teams in other regions (contracts with Softbank Japan, Softbank China, and RobotLab) once I have information from them. First off some good news: If you took the discounted warranty extension last year that stated to extend your robot warranty until "July 1 2022 (after the Thailand event)" (because the event was scheduled for end of June at that point) you don't need to worry. URG just confirmed that all those warranties have been extended until July 31, so the competition is covered, as is sending the robots to France after the event. :) Now some changes introduced by URG: If you've ever forgotten to extend your robot's warranty and then contacted Softbank Europe you'll have noticed that they usually extended the warranty retroactively from the date the previous warranty expired no matter what state the robot was in. URG is handling this slightly differently: If your robot doesn't currently have a warranty they require a "check-up" which will cost 100€ to determine whether the robot will need repairs before being able to be under warranty again. The new warranty will then start from the date of the "check-up" and the 100€ fee will be credited towards the price of the warranty extension. If damage that would require repairs is found during the check-up, the repairs will have to be done and paid for outside of the warranty before the robot qualifies for a warranty again. URG told me that they will be more lenient with Robocup teams than with "normal" customers and things like broken fingers, etc. will be ignored during the check-up. The usual 4 year warranty limit still applies, i.e. it won't be possible to extend the warranty once a robot is more than 4 years old. For those cases URG will offer a repair package at events (as they are doing for Robocup in Thailand this year). URG will also remind teams to extend their warranties before they expire so that the check-up won't be necessary. Let me know if you have any questions about the process or if you run into any problems with URG. Rico Tilgner SPL Executive Committee

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Newsletter - RoboCup 2022 SPL
by Patrick Göttsch 07 Jul '22

07 Jul '22

# Newsletter - RoboCup 2022 SPL ## Live Streaming As for GORE 2022 we are going to set-up a similar setup for RoboCup 2022. You will find live streams from the fields here on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/c/RoboCupSPL). ## Team Leader Meetings There are four team leader meetings planned. We will try to conduct them in a hybrid fashion, so that remote teams **and teams not participating in RoboCup 2022** can also participate. We are going to use Field A in Discord (if you do not have access to Discord, please let us know) for remotely joining teams. ## League Advancements (Reminder) To prepare for the discussion of league advancements during our team leader meetings at RoboCup 2022, we ask you and your team, **even if you do not particpate in RoboCup 2022**, to discuss your ideas for rule changes, technical challenges, etc. Please submit your ideas in written form in this document: https://writemd.rz.tuhh.de/CXy3y2PGTCaA-vaOsPOZMg by the **9th of July**. As these are just teasers (Ideas will be explained in detail at RC2022), do not use more than two times 140 chars. ## Publications, Datasets, Open Source (Reminder) The SPL website contains sections of publications (https://spl.robocup.org/publications/), datasets (https://spl.robocup.org/datasets/), and open source releases (https://spl.robocup.org/open-source/) that were created in the context of the SPL. We would like to keep those lists up-to-date and therefore ask you to send SPL-related research output from the past two years (i.e. bibliographical information for publications, links and descriptions for public datasets and code) to rc-spl-oc(a)lists.robocup.org by July 9th. This also helps representing the state of the SPL to the trustees. Thanks to the teams who have replied so far! Thanks a lot, Have a nice day, Patrick (on behalf of the SPL OC&TC) -- Patrick Göttsch, M.Sc. Research Assistant Institute of Control Systems / E-14 Hamburg University of Technology Eißendorfer Str. 40 Building N (Room 1.010) D-21073 Hamburg E-Mail: patrick.goettsch(a)tuhh.de Phone: +49-40-42878-3115 https://www.tuhh.de/ics/

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RC-HL 2022: Invitation to participate at Humanoid League Satellite Event
by Alessandra Rossi 05 Jul '22

05 Jul '22

Dear RoboCuppers, The Humanoid League is organising the event "Open Humanoid Competition" as part of the Symposium Satellite Events on 14 July 2022, 19:00-21:00 (local time) Bangkok, Thailand. This satellite event is meant to be a discussion group during which we will foster discussions between members of different Leagues, trustees, members of the Technical and Organising Committees to tackle some fundamental requirements to facilitate new teams to join or participate in the games of the Humanoid League. Best regards, Alessandra on behalf of the Humanoid League TCs *Abstract*: "Since the Humanoid League's first games in 2002, the competitions progressively developed its scientific challenges to successfully meet the goal of RoboCup to play against the human world soccer champion in 2050. Such increasing scientific difficulties have been catching the attention and interest of researchers, but, at the same time, make it prohibitive for new and, in consequence, often less experienced teams to join the Humanoid League. The main difficulties faced by new teams are related both to the cost of taller robots, and the challenges of developing hardware and software for such taller robots. We also expect that such costs for research, components and equipment for one or a full team of humanoid robots may soon become inapproachable for new teams. For these reasons, in this satellite event for the 25th RoboCup International Symposium, we want to focus on addressing the challenges and development of the creation an initial process or a sub-event to the Humanoid League main competition that can ease the path for new teams and to guide them towards a final full participation. To this extent, we will foster discussions between members of different Leagues, trustees, members of the Technical and Organising Committees to tackle some fundamental requirements to facilitate new teams to join the Humanoid League." *Website*: https://humanoid.robocup.org/hl-2022/satellite-event/ -- Dr. Alessandra Rossi Assistant Professor PRISCA research lab University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy Visiting Researcher Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Adaptive Systems Research Group University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

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RoboCup International Symposium 2022 - Final Call for Research Showcases
by Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann 15 Jun '22

15 Jun '22

* Final Call for Research Showcases* The 25th RoboCup International Symposium https://2022.robocup.org/ Submission of abstracts: 20 June 2022 Notification to authors: 24 June 2022 RoboCup Symposium: 17 July 2022 (RoboCup 2022: 11-17 July 2022) =========================================================== The RoboCup symposium is an annual event in which innovative, original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence is presented. This year, we are inviting the submission of poster proposals to facilitate scientific discussions about ongoing projects and late-breaking results during the RoboCup 2022 Symposium. This call is specifically for poster presentations to showcase teams’ ongoing work and/or the latest results relevant to the RoboCup community. The Symposium Program Co-Chairs would like to promote exciting conversations during the coffee break over posters, discussing scientific results, finding other research groups with similar interests, and strengthening connections between different teams as well as RoboCup leagues. Any team, research group, or individual is welcome to propose a poster presentation with the content relevant to the RoboCup community. To ensure this and to group posters into the poster sessions, we ask everyone interested in such poster presentations to submit a proposal with the title and short abstract of max 250 words by June 20th (using the Research Showcase Track). IMPORTANT DATES =============== Submission of poster abstracts (Research Showcase Track): 20 June 2022 Notification to authors: 24 June 2022 Upload of poster pdfs for website (optionally): 8 July RoboCup Symposium: 17 July 2022 (RoboCup 2022: 11-17 July 2022) SUBMISSION AND PROCEEDINGS ========================== Abstracts will be evaluated by the Symposium Program Co-Chairs based on their thematic relevance to the RoboCup Symposium. Poster abstracts will not be included in the RoboCup Symposium proceedings. Proposals should be 250 words in plain text and must be submitted through the EasyChair electronic submission system: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=robocupsymposium2022 POSTER FORMAT ============== Posters presented at the Symposium should be in A0 portrait format. Presenters will receive a poster board as well as material for attaching the posters from the organizers. Please note that the Symposium Co-Chairs will not be able to assist with printing posters in Bangkok, so please bring your printed poster with you to the Symposium. PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS ================== Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann, University of Potsdam, Germany Nuno Lau, University of Aveiro, Portugal Thanapat Wanichanon, Mahidol University, Thailand Amy Eguchi, University of California San Diego, USA CONTACT ======= robocupsymposium2022(a)easychair.org

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RoboCup International Symposium 2022 - Call for Research Showcases
by Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann 03 Jun '22

03 Jun '22

* Call for Research Showcases* The 25th RoboCup International Symposium https://2022.robocup.org/ Submission of abstracts: 20 June 2022 Notification to authors: 24 June 2022 RoboCup Symposium: 17 July 2022 (RoboCup 2022: 11-17 July 2022) =========================================================== The RoboCup symposium is an annual event in which innovative, original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence is presented. This year, we are inviting the submission of poster proposals to facilitate scientific discussions about ongoing projects and late-breaking results during the RoboCup 2022 Symposium. This call is specifically for poster presentations to showcase teams’ ongoing work and/or the latest results relevant to the RoboCup community. The Symposium Program Co-Chairs would like to promote exciting conversations during the coffee break over posters, discussing scientific results, finding other research groups with similar interests, and strengthening connections between different teams as well as RoboCup leagues. Any team, research group, or individual is welcome to propose a poster presentation with the content relevant to the RoboCup community. To ensure this and to group posters into the poster sessions, we ask everyone interested in such poster presentations to submit a proposal with the title and short abstract of max 250 words by June 20th (using the Research Showcase Track). IMPORTANT DATES =============== Submission of poster abstracts (Research Showcase Track): 20 June 2022 Notification to authors: 24 June 2022 Upload of poster pdfs for website (optionally): 8 July RoboCup Symposium: 17 July 2022 (RoboCup 2022: 11-17 July 2022) SUBMISSION AND PROCEEDINGS ========================== Abstracts will be evaluated by the Symposium Program Co-Chairs based on their thematic relevance to the RoboCup Symposium. Poster abstracts will not be included in the RoboCup Symposium proceedings. Proposals should be 250 words in plain text and must be submitted through the EasyChair electronic submission system: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=robocupsymposium2022 POSTER FORMAT ============== Posters presented at the Symposium should be in A0 portrait format. Presenters will receive a poster board as well as material for attaching the posters from the organizers. Please note that the Symposium Co-Chairs will not be able to assist with printing posters in Bangkok, so please bring your printed poster with you to the Symposium. PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS ================== Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann, University of Potsdam, Germany Nuno Lau, University of Aveiro, Portugal Thanapat Wanichanon, Mahidol University, Thailand Amy Eguchi, University of California San Diego, USA CONTACT ======= robocupsymposium2022(a)easychair.org

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GameController RoboCup 2022
by Arne Hasselbring 24 May '22

24 May '22

Dear teams, there is a preliminary GameController release for RoboCup 2022 at https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/GameController/releases/tag/RoboCup2022 (including release notes and a compiled zip archive below Assets). To those teams participating in RoboCup 2022: Could you please check your team name (as you wish it to be displayed by the GameController/TCM), home/away jersey colors (GameController/config/spl/teams.cfg in the zip archive or resources/config/spl/teams.cfg in the repository) and team logo (file named as your team number in the same directory) and send any change request until *June 1*? I am aware that some changes for the 7v7 competition may be necessary if teams use the default jerseys and that remote teams can not use their own jerseys, so if you have special requests here you can contact me as well. If you happen to find easter eggs, bugs or other problems, please report them either directly on GitHub, on Discord, or as an email to me, whatever fits you best. Best regards, Arne Hasselbring

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Final version Rule Book
by Patrick Göttsch 17 May '22

17 May '22

Dear all, the final version of the SPL rule got published here: https://spl.robocup.org/wp-content/uploads/SPL-Rules-2022.pdf Kind regards, Patrick Göttsch (on behalf of the SPL TC)

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Re: RoboCup SPL Application status update
by Timothy Wiley 06 May '22

06 May '22

Hi RoboCup TC, Thank you for writing to us At this stage, we are unable to participate in-person due to RMIT travel rules. I have been waiting on RMIT travel rules update, but can’t guarantee that by the time of the competition. At this stage, we would try to participate remotely in ta couple of the technical challenges, if possible. Regards, Timothy Dr. Timothy Wiley | Lecturer, School of Computing Technologies | RMIT University Building 14, Level 11 (City Campus) | Homepage<https://timothy-wiley.github.io> | CIAIRI<https://www.rmit.edu.au/research/centres-collaborations/centre-for-industri…> | AI Innovation Lab<http://rmit.edu.au/ailab> On 3 May 2022, at 2:21 am, Stefan Seering <robocup(a)stefan.seeri.ng<mailto:robocup@stefan.seeri.ng>> wrote: Dear Team RedBackBots, Dear Timothy, I am writing you due to your application to RoboCup SPL 2022. In your application you expressed that you are tentative about your commitment to participate in RoboCup SPL 2022. The TC would like if there are any updates available regarding your intent to participate. While we understand that commitments are still hard to make due to the global situation, we would like to know which of the following options is the most likely for you at the moment. a) You will participate in RoboCup SPL 2022 in person. b) You will not participate in person, but have interest in remotely participation in technical challenges if possible. c) You will not participate in RoboCup SPL 2022. You answer is helpful for planning RoboCup SPL 2022. Therefore, we ask you to please respond until Friday this week. Best regards Stefan Seering.

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RC Humanoid League Virtual Season: sim2real event
by Alessandra Rossi 25 Apr '22

25 Apr '22

Dear everyone, We are very pleased to share with you the program of the 3-day event focused on sim2real transfer organised to conclude an exceptional RC Humanoid League Virtual Season. The event will be on 28-30 April online using the Zoom platform -> Link We are very pleased of having a great invited speaker from the 3D sim league Marco Simões, and a discussion about common and differences with 3D sim will follow. We will also have a mix of medalists and team presentations, workshops, discussions and a sneak peek to the RC-HL VS behind scenes. The full program is available on our website -> Link Please do not hesitate to contact us for any questions. We are looking forward to engage you in sim2real discussions! Kind regards, Alessandra on behalf of RC-HL Virtual Season organisers Dr. Alessandra Rossi Assistant Professor PRISCA research lab Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

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[RC-Humanoid League Virtual Season] Semi- and final games
by Alessandra Rossi 14 Apr '22

14 Apr '22

Dear RoboCuppers, We are almost at the end of an exciting season full of great and breath taking games! On April 17th, in conjuction with the GORE event, there will be a double date for the semi- and final games of the Humanoid League Virtual Season starting with the semifinals at 10am (CEST time), and continuing at 11:45 (CEST time) with the finals! Sooo, grab a coffee, a beer or an Ester chocolate egg and join us! Games will be commenting live from the GORE venue, but we will be streaming the games on Twitch Field A -> https://www.twitch.tv/robocuphumanoidfielda For checking the time zone differences, you can use websites such as worldtimebuddy Do not forget that the RC-HL Virtual Season will be back on April 28-30 with a series of workshops, discussion groups and talks. We welcome proposals from other leagues too! https://humanoid.robocup.org/hl-vs2022/rc-hl-virtual-season-workshops/call-… See you this Sunday! Best regards, Alessandra on behalf of the RC-HL Organisation Committee Dr. Alessandra Rossi Assistant Professor PRISCA research lab Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

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RoboEireann code usage for GORE 2022
by Rudi Villing 11 Apr '22

11 Apr '22

Dear all, RoboEireann wish to declare that after many years working with our own codebase, this year we have chosen to use the B-Human Code Release 2021 as the basis for our entry in the GORE 2022 event. We have replaced two modules to date: * the cards and skills behaviour architecture of the code release was replaced with our own coroutine based behaviour architecture * the original correlation-based whistle recognizer was replaced with our own whistle detector * We've also made some changes to support event-based communication. Finally, Low level vision is expected to be replaced going forward but this change is not ready at this time. We'd like to take the opportunity to thank B-Human for their significant open-source contributions to the SPL community and the high quality of their code release. Best regards, Rudi (on behalf of RoboEireann)

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[RC-HL] EXTENDED DEADLINE : Call for Workshop proposals
by Alessandra Rossi 08 Apr '22

08 Apr '22

Dear Robocuppers, We decided to extend the submission deadline for the workshop proposals for the RoboCup Humanoid League Virtual Season. RC-HL virtual season organisers will hold a three days event on April 28-30, 2022 focused on exploring the sim2real transfer topic. It will be a great opportunity for both exploring future collaborations between different leagues, and sharing knowledge and experiences on techniques and approaches in simulated environments. Each workshop will be of half hour, and we welcome proposals for discussion groups, tutorials or interactive activities. More info on how to submit your proposal are here -> https://humanoid.robocup.org/hl-vs2022/rc-hl-virtual-season-workshops/call-… Moreover, we want to invite you at the Semi-Final and Final that will be streamed on April 17th from the joint event German Open Replacement Event (GORE) organised by SPL and Humanoid League which takes place in Hamburg (Germany) from 12.04. to 17.04.22. Looking forward to receive your valuable inputs and contributions. Feel free to contact me for further information. Best regards, Alessandra On behalf of the RC-HL virtual organisation committee Dr. Alessandra Rossi Assistant Professor PRISCA research lab Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

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League News
by Patrick Göttsch 07 Apr '22

07 Apr '22

Dear Teams, we are getting closer and closer to RoboCup 2022 in Thailand and a lot of different RoboCup related events (like GORE 2022 https://gore-event.github.io) are going to take place. The RoboCup federation asks all teams, if you have league-related news you would like to share with the communiy over RoboCup's social media channels. If so, please sent an email to April foster april.robocup(a)gmail.com. Kind regards and hope to see you around Patrick (on behalf of SPL TC and OC commitee)

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RoboCup International Symposium 2022 - Final Call for Satellite Events
by Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann 01 Apr '22

01 Apr '22

* Final Call for Satellite Events * RoboCup International Symposium 2022 https://2022.robocup.org/symposium-call-for-satellite-events/ Submission of proposals: 3 April 2022 Notification to authors: 25 April 2022 Satellite Events: 17 or 18 July 2022 (RoboCup 2022: 11-17 July 2022) =========================================================== We invite you to organize a satellite event for the 25th RoboCup International Symposium, which will be held on 17 July 2022, in conjunction with RoboCup 2022 (11 July to 17 July 2022) in a hybrid setting. The RoboCup symposium is an annual event in which innovative, original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence is presented. The Symposium Program Co-Chairs would like to facilitate the organization of satellite workshops, focus groups, roundtable discussions, and other events that are related to RoboCup itself or the general aim of the RoboCup Symposium. This includes league-specific discussions about rules and/or roadmaps, shared infrastructure projects between leagues, as well as scientific workshops focusing on a particular research topic, among others. League committee members, as well as teams or individuals from RoboCup leagues participating in the Symposium, are invited to submit their proposals. The organizers of a satellite event are free to propose events between 2 and 8 hours in length to be held during or a day after the RoboCup Symposium (17 or 18 July) in a fully virtual, hybrid, or fully local format. IMPORTANT DATES =============== Submission of satellite events: 3 April 2022 Notification to authors: 25 April 2022 Satellite Events: 17 or 18 July 2022 (RoboCup 2022: 11-17 July 2022) SUBMISSION AND PROCEEDINGS ========================== Proposals will be evaluated by the Symposium Program Co-Chairs based on their thematic relevance to the RoboCup Symposium as well as their proposed schedule and required resources. Satellite events will not be included in the RoboCup Symposium proceedings. Proposals should be formatted following the LNAI author guidelines [0] and must be electronically submitted through the EasyChair electronic submission system [1]. Please follow the LaTeX template created by us by either downloading the template file [2] or by creating a private copy of this Overleaf template [3]. Submissions are limited to a 4-page extended abstract, excluding references. Each submission must include the following sections: * Name of the satellite event * A description of the format (e.g., discussion group, workshop, tutorial, invited talks, ...) and intended length of the event * Prefered date and time of the event (17 or 18; morning or afternoon, or the whole day [no lunch will be provided unless it’s on the 17th]) * A description of the content and aim of the satellite event * Names and contacts of all members of the organizing committee/group with one clearly marked person as the corresponding member of the organizing committee * The intended audience and the number of participants expected * Any resources required to organize the workshop After the acceptance of their proposal, organizers are expected to create a short description of their event as well as a website providing further information which will both be linked from the RoboCup symposium page on the RoboCup 2022 website. Organizers of accepted proposals for satellite events will receive a location for their event as well as other required resources (e.g., a projector), if possible. Apart from this, the organizers are responsible for organizing their event independent of the RoboCup Symposium. PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS ================== Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann, University of Potsdam, Germany Nuno Lau, University of Aveiro, Portugal Thanapat Wanichanon, Mahidol University, Thailand Amy Eguchi, University of California San Diego, USA CONTACT ======= robocupsymposium2022(a)easychair.org [0] https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu… [1] https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=robocupsymposium2022 [2] https://2022.robocup.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Symposium-Satellite-Eve… [3] https://de.overleaf.com/read/gqspxdtvpwsn

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[RC-Humanoid League Virtual Season] Workshops and next games
by Alessandra Rossi 25 Mar '22

25 Mar '22

Dear Robocuppers, The first round of games for RC-HL virtual season just ended. We streamed the last game of the Round Robin phase last Sunday (20 March). We will now enter in the Quarterfinals, which they will be streamed on April 3rd starting at 10am (CEST time). The Semi-Final and Final will be streamed on April 17th from the joint event German Open Replacement Event (GORE) organised by SPL and Humanoid League which takes place in Hamburg (Germany) from 12.04. to 17.04.22. At the end of the games, RC-HL virtual season organisers will hold a three days event on April 28-30, 2022 focused on exploring the sim2real transfer topic. It will be a great opportunity for both exploring future collaborations between different leagues, and sharing knowledge and experiences of applying realistic computational resources and scenario to the virtual competition, and the other way around. We welcome proposals for half hour workshops. More info on how to submit your proposal are here -> https://humanoid.robocup.org/hl-vs2022/rc-hl-virtual-season-workshops/call-… Looking forward to receive your valuable inputs and contributions. Best regards, Alessandra On behalf of the RC-HL virtual organisation committee More info on our website: https://humanoid.robocup.org/hl-vs2022 We will be streaming all of our games on Twitch Field A For checking the time zone differences, you can use websites such as worldtimebuddy Dr. Alessandra Rossi Assistant Professor PRISCA research lab Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

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RoboCup International Symposium 2022 - 2nd Call for Satellite Events
by Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann 21 Mar '22

21 Mar '22

* 2nd Call for Satellite Events * RoboCup International Symposium 2022 https://2022.robocup.org/symposium-call-for-satellite-events/ Submission of proposals: 3 April 2022 Notification to authors: 25 April 2022 Satellite Events: 17 or 18 July 2022 (RoboCup 2022: 11-17 July 2022) =========================================================== We invite you to organize a satellite event for the 25th RoboCup International Symposium, which will be held on 17 July 2022, in conjunction with RoboCup 2022 (11 July to 17 July 2022) in a hybrid setting. The RoboCup symposium is an annual event in which innovative, original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence is presented. The Symposium Program Co-Chairs would like to facilitate the organization of satellite workshops, focus groups, roundtable discussions, and other events that are related to RoboCup itself or the general aim of the RoboCup Symposium. This includes league-specific discussions about rules and/or roadmaps, shared infrastructure projects between leagues, as well as scientific workshops focusing on a particular research topic, among others. League committee members, as well as teams or individuals from RoboCup leagues participating in the Symposium, are invited to submit their proposals. The organizers of a satellite event are free to propose events between 2 and 8 hours in length to be held during or a day after the RoboCup Symposium (17 or 18 July) in a fully virtual, hybrid, or fully local format. IMPORTANT DATES =============== Submission of satellite events: 3 April 2022 Notification to authors: 25 April 2022 Satellite Events: 17 or 18 July 2022 (RoboCup 2022: 11-17 July 2022) SUBMISSION AND PROCEEDINGS ========================== Proposals will be evaluated by the Symposium Program Co-Chairs based on their thematic relevance to the RoboCup Symposium as well as their proposed schedule and required resources. Satellite events will not be included in the RoboCup Symposium proceedings. Proposals should be formatted following the LNAI author guidelines [0] and must be electronically submitted through the EasyChair electronic submission system [1]. Please follow the LaTeX template created by us by either downloading the template file [2] or by creating a private copy of this Overleaf template [3]. Submissions are limited to a 4-page extended abstract, excluding references. Each submission must include the following sections: * Name of the satellite event * A description of the format (e.g., discussion group, workshop, tutorial, invited talks, ...) and intended length of the event * Prefered date and time of the event (17 or 18; morning or afternoon, or the whole day [no lunch will be provided unless it’s on the 17th]) * A description of the content and aim of the satellite event * Names and contacts of all members of the organizing committee/group with one clearly marked person as the corresponding member of the organizing committee * The intended audience and the number of participants expected * Any resources required to organize the workshop After the acceptance of their proposal, organizers are expected to create a short description of their event as well as a website providing further information which will both be linked from the RoboCup symposium page on the RoboCup 2022 website. Organizers of accepted proposals for satellite events will receive a location for their event as well as other required resources (e.g., a projector), if possible. Apart from this, the organizers are responsible for organizing their event independent of the RoboCup Symposium. PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS ================== Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann, University of Potsdam, Germany Nuno Lau, University of Aveiro, Portugal Thanapat Wanichanon, Mahidol University, Thailand Amy Eguchi, University of California San Diego, USA CONTACT ======= robocupsymposium2022(a)easychair.org [0] https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu… [1] https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=robocupsymposium2022 [2] https://2022.robocup.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Symposium-Satellite-Eve… [3] https://de.overleaf.com/read/gqspxdtvpwsn

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Late call for applications to participate on-site and remotely in RoboCup 2022 Standard Platform League
by Stefan Seering 16 Mar '22

16 Mar '22

Dear SPL Teams, This email is a*late call for applications to participate *in RoboCup 2022 Standard Platform League in some capacity, either on-site as normal or remotely in a limited capacity. While we encourage all teams that are able to travel, even with a small number of member, to join us in Bangkok, the TC is aware that some teams have limitations on their ability to travel to Bangkok for the 2022 competition. Therefore, we would also like to encourage as many teams as possible to participate in RoboCup, whether on-site or in a remote setting. This is to maintain connections with the teams in our community and encourage teams to continue in their RoboCup research and software development. Teams competing on-site will be able to participate in the soccer competition and challenges. Teams that compete remotely, would be able to participate only in the following technical challenges: * Visual Referee Challenge * Dynamic Ball handling Challenge * Open Research Challenge Remote teams will be unable to participate in the soccer competition, or the 7 vs 7 Technical Challenge. This is because of limited on-site technical and volunteer support, along with an insufficient pool of robots. If you have questions about this late call for applications to participate on-site or remotely, please email the RoboCup TC (rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org). Additionally, if you are unsure about the teams status and unable to apply by the deadline, but may wish to make a late application, please express your interest in a late application by the deadline. Details of the call follow below: Late call for applications to participate in RoboCup 2022 Standard Platform League spl.robocup.org <https://spl.robocup.org/> Monday 11th July through Sunday 17th July 2022 Bangkok, Thailand 2022.robocup.org <https://2022.robocup.org/> RoboCup <https://spl.robocup.org/> is an international initiative that fosters research and education in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions (RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupJunior) involving mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCup currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. *The Standard Platform League (SPL)* is characterized by all the teams using an identical robot platform. Participating researchers focus on algorithmic development for fully autonomous robots, i.e., robots that operate with no external control. In this late call we encourage applications to participate in the RoboCup 2022 SPL either on-site in Bangkok or remotely. On-site participation The SPL at RoboCup 2022 will use V6, V5 or older versions of the NAO humanoid robot manufactured by SoftBank Robotics <https://www.softbankrobotics.com/emea/en/nao>. The SPL robot soccer team competition games at RoboCup 2022 will be played indoor and outdoor between teams of five robots on a 6m x 9m playing surface. Teams should be able to play on a randomly assigned indoor or outdoor field within one hour. The RoboCup 2022 SPL will host: * A 5 vs. 5 team competition as the main competition of the event. * A 7 vs. 7 competition. * A visual referee technical challenge. * A dynamic ball handling technical challenge. * A video analysis and statistics open research challenge. The 5 vs. 5 team competition will consist of a similar number of games for most teams compared to recent years. The structure from 2019 will be used to allow all teams to play games against teams with similar skill levels. See Appendix A.4 of the preliminary rulebook <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/> for more details. The teams participating in the team competition should also compete in some of the additional technical challenges. The 7 vs. 7 side competition extends the ideas from the mixed team competition, and 1 vs. 1 remote challenge from RoboCup 2021 to a standardized 7 vs. 7 NAO V6 on-site competition. Its goal is to encourage more collaborative game play and offer a chance for teams to work together more closely. Participating in 7 vs. 7 is recognized as participation in a technical challenge. Additional technical challenges offered at the competition are the visual referee challenge and the dynamic ball handling challenge. The open research challenge aims to provide the SPL with long term performance statistics based on video analysis. Please note that the open research challenge comes with additional deadlines as mentioned in the rulebook. All challenges will be detailed further with the release of the SPL rules document. To assist in adoption of V6 Robots source code examples and documentation regarding V6 robots were published on the SPL website <https://spl.robocup.org/v6-support/>. One can also find example code working with V6 Robots in the code released by participating teams. These examples allow teams to adapt their competition code from recent years more easily to encourage use of V6 Robots. If you need access to the RoboCup NAOqi Image and the specific documentation, please write an email (mentioning your team affiliation) to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org <mailto:rc-spl-tc@lists.robocup.org>. Remote participation in challenges For those teams that are not able to travel and compete on-site, we offer the possibility of remote participation in the following challenges: * Visual Referee Technical Challenge * Dynamic Ball handling Technical Challenge * A video analysis and statistics open research challenge Remote teams will be unable to participate in the soccer competition, or the 7 vs 7 Technical Challenge. Teams that wish to compete remotely may do so via a live stream of their technical challenge performance at their assigned time, similar to participation in RoboCup 2021. (For the dynamic ball handling challenge the TC is currently considering a limited on-site robot pool to allow teams to participate if they do not have 6 functional robots with which to conduct the challenge demonstration. However, a final decision on this has not yet been made.) Qualification All interested teams (whether participating on-site or remotely) must submit an original qualification document. For the qualification document to be considered, it must (1) be no longer than *6 pages* and (2) include all the following information in *sections with the specified headings*: 1. *Team Information:* the team name, the team leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team 2. *Code Usage:* Acknowledge the team’s use of any other team’s code (1) previously from 2017 to present and (2) anticipated at RoboCup 2022. If code is used from other teams, is this code integrated into a code base that is mainly designed by the applying team? If the applying team does not use any other team’s code, state so. For further details, please have a look into the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 3. *Own Contribution:* Describe in detail the ‘research publishable’ significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2022, in accordance with the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 4. *Past History:* provide game results in RoboCup Open competitions as well as main RoboCup competitions from 2018 onward. Include opponents and game scores from each competition in a table. State if the team plans to participate in any RoboCup Open competitions or friendlies prior to RoboCup 2022. 5. *Impact:* What is the impact of the team’s participation and research in RoboCup on (1) the SPL, (2) the team’s university/community? 6. *Video presentation:* Include a link to a video (maximum 5 minutes long, uploaded on the team’s web site or on some video server) that demonstrates the status of the team. The organizing committees use the video to determine the readiness of the team to compete effectively, and hence should focus on the team’s ability to play soccer. Teams who did not participate in the team competition at RoboCup 2019 or any challenge at RoboCup 2021 *must* include footage of at least one robot attempting to kick off and score (this footage must be captured as a single wide shot with no cuts). If robots from multiple teams are active in the footage (e.g., game footage), please include a textual overlay or additional document denoting which robots belong to the applying team for every scene. Videos of simulation contributions will also be accepted, but only when a real robot is unavailable. Preference will be given to teams that use real robots to show soccer skills in their video. 7. *Other:* Present any other information that you believe supports your application. If your application mentions more than one e-mail address, please specify which one should be used to contact your team regarding your application. Submission and Evaluation All applications with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by*13**th of April 2022*, by email to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org <mailto:rc-spl-tc@lists.robocup.org>. Applications must not be sent to personal SPL TC/OC email addresses and must not contain video attachments. Note that applying serves as a statement of commitment to participate in the RoboCup 2022 SPL. The organizing committees are aware of the ongoing COVID situation and assume that all applications are subject to withdrawal due to COVID. Applications are not required to mention uncertainties related to COVID to avoid negative effects on future applications. We would rather encourage teams to plan optimistically and sign up with the possibility of withdrawing if situation requires it. For situations other than COVID: If you have doubts regarding the ability of your team to participate (due to funding, visas, etc.), please apply by the deadline but note this in your application. Declining to participate in any competition after the official early registration period has opened may negatively affect future applications (the later you decline, the worse it will affect future applications). Teams are encouraged to consider joint participation. Joint proposals will be judged on combined merit. Applications will be evaluated to consider a variety of components including: 1. Potential to play competitive games or participate in challenges at RoboCup 2022 (demonstrated ability to play soccer, previous results, etc.) 2. Contributions (and potential contributions) to league (code releases/papers, active in organization, developing own code, etc.) 3. Diversity (region, team make-up, unique characteristics, etc.) Late qualification decisions will be announced shortly after the late application deadline above. Robot Acquisition Teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified will be eligible for potential future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for team competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced if offers and conditions are finalized. /RoboCup 2022 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees/ / /

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[RC-Humanoid League Virtual Season] Call for Workshop proposals on sim2real transfer
by Alessandra Rossi 14 Mar '22

14 Mar '22

Dear RoboCuppers, The Technical and Virtual Organising committees of the Humanoid League invite proposals for Workshops that will be held as part of the Humanoid League Virtual Season on April, 28-30, 2022. The event will be fully online and free of attendance. The theme of this three-days event is sim2real transfer. In particular, we want to teams the opportunity to share their knowledge and experiences of applying realistic computational resources and scenario to the virtual competition, and the other way around. A second aim is too have a specific roundtable to talk about possible ideas for collaboration between the 3Dsim and the Humanoid League. However, inputs and contributions from different leagues are valuable and appreciated. The event will be organised through different time-zones to allow the participations from all over the world. Detailed schedule of the event will be posted on the website of the Humanoid League email and social media. Website: https://humanoid.robocup.org/ Twitter: @HumanoidLRC IMPORTANT DATES Proposal Submission deadline: April 8, 2022 (AoE) Workshop days: April, 28-30, 2022. HOW TO SUBMIT We are welcoming workshop proposals related to the sim2real topic from teams of the different RC leagues. Each workshop will be of half hour. Teams can submit more than one proposal, but they need to provide separate submissions. Prospective workshop organisers are invited to submit a proposal in a PDF format via https://cloud.robocup.org/s/CrqjiD3DdscRKcg Proposals should include the following information: • Workshop title • Short description of topic and objective of the workshop • Organisers names, email and affiliation For any questions and further information about the Workshop proposal and the event, please email rc-hl-tc <AT> lists.robocup.org or rc-hl-oc <AT> lists.robocup.org Alessandra On behalf of the Humanoid League TC and V-OC committees Dr. Alessandra Rossi Assistant Professor PRISCA research lab Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

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GameController Packet - Relevant for Dynamic Ball Handling Challenge
by Arne Hasselbring 10 Mar '22

10 Mar '22

Hi everyone, since the defender images for the dynamic ball handling challenge need to be handed in in a few days, they must already be compatible with a GameController that will be used at RoboCup. Therefore, I'd like to notify you about the changes in RoboCupGameControlData.h (which you can find here: https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/GameController/blob/master/include/RoboCupGa…). I hope that this file does not need to be changed again for RoboCup. Otherwise, I will make sure that at least for the Dynamic Ball Handling Challenge there is a GameController that can handle both the current version of the packet and the one that will be current then (because I guess that would be what the attackers use). The changes in RoboCupGameControlData compared to 2021 are: - increased version number - increased MAX_NUM_PLAYERS to 7 (affects the size of TeamInfo and therefore RoboCupGameControlData) - updated COMPETITION_TYPE macros - added messageBudget field to TeamInfo - indicates how many messages a team has left RoboCupGameControlReturnData has also changed (this is what makes robots show up as active in the GameController): https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/GameController/commit/a9f113e2f0f0e40ac6deca… It is now similar to the SPLStandardMessage, such that a TCM running on the GC computer could still visualize the robots' poses and ball observations at an acceptable rate (remember that this is unicast to the GC host anyway). Although the return packets are already received by the TCM, merging them into the visualization is still work in progress. Best regards, Arne Hasselbring

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RoboCup International Symposium 2022 - Call for Papers
by Nuno Lau 03 Mar '22

03 Mar '22

Dear RoboCuppers; Please consider submitting your paper to this year's symposium! Call for papers RoboCup International Symposium 2022 https://2022.robocup.org/symposium-call-for-papers/ 17 July 2022 Bangkok, Thailand (hybrid setting) The 25th RoboCup International Symposium will be held on 17 July 2022, in conjunction with RoboCup 2022 (11 July to 17 July 2022) in a hybrid setting. We call for submissions of papers reporting innovative, original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence as listed below. Within the described scope of topics, we also encourage submissions of high-quality overview articles, papers describing real-world research, and papers reporting theoretical results. Researchers are invited to submit their work independently of whether they participate in the RoboCup competitions or have a RoboCup team. The symposium is planned to be held in person in Bangkok, Thailand, with remote participation options for both presenters and attendees. In addition to the regular track with regular research papers, there is the development track encouraging reports on innovative hardware developments, software frameworks, and open-source releases of software components. A review of papers describing these contributions will be based on technical aspects and benefits to the practice of communities working in the above fields in general and RoboCup in particular. IMPORTANT DATES Submission of full papers: 17 April 2022 Notification to authors: 5 June 2022 Submission of camera-ready copies: 26 June 2022 RoboCup Symposium 2022: 17 July 2022 (RoboCup on 11-17 July 2022) SUBMISSION AND PROCEEDINGS All papers will be peer-reviewed and evaluated by members of the senior program committee. The proceedings of the RoboCup International Symposium will be published and archived within the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNCS/LNAI) series by Springer-Verlag after the conference. Papers should be formatted following the LNAI author guidelines (https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu…) and must be electronically submitted through the EasyChair electronic submission system (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=robocupsymposium2022). Submissions are limited to 12 pages including references. Springer’s proceedings LaTeX templates are also available in Overleaf: https://de.overleaf.com/latex/templates/springer-lecture-notes-in-computer-… TOPICS Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: * Robot Hardware and Software - mobile robotics - humanoid robotics - sensors and actuators - embedded and mobile devices - robot construction and new materials - robot system integration - robot software architectures - robot programming environments and languages - real-time and concurrent programming - robot simulators - sim2real learning * Perception and Action - 3D perception - distributed sensor integration - sensor noise filtering - real-time image processing and pattern recognition - motion and sensor models - sensory-motor control - robot kinematics and dynamics - high-dimensional motion control * Robot Cognition and Learning - world modelling and knowledge representation - learning from demonstration and imitation - localisation, navigation, and mapping - planning and reasoning - decision making under uncertainty - neural systems and deep learning - complex motor skill acquisition - reinforcement learning and optimisation - motion and sensor model learning * Human-Robot Interaction - robot social intelligence - fluency of interaction - speech synthesis and natural language generation - natural language recognition - explainable robot behaviours - emotion recognition and reaction - understanding human intent and behaviour - safety, security and dependability - enabling humans to predict robot behaviour * Multi-Robot Systems - team coordination methods - communication protocols - learning and adaptive systems - teamwork and heterogeneous agents - dynamic resource allocation - adjustable autonomy * Education and Edutainment - robotics and artificial intelligence education - educational robotics - robot kits and programming tools - robotic entertainment * Applications and Benchmarking - search and rescue robots - robot surveillance - service and social robots - robots at home, at work and in public spaces - robots in the real world - performance metrics - human-robot interaction DEVELOPMENT TRACK To encourage open-source release of hardware and software systems, the RoboCup International Symposium has included a development track in recent years. In 2021, we expand the scope of this track to include datasets and benchmarks. We encourage the submission of papers describing open-source hardware and software, tools and frameworks that facilitate development of robotics hardware and software, datasets that enable new robotic capabilities, as well as benchmarks that establish reproducible test beds and performance metrics to advance research. If applicable, contributions to the special track should include evidence of the released system or dataset, and highlight past, ongoing, and/or potential future impacts on the RoboCup community. A review of these contributions will be based on technical merit and benefits to the RoboCup community and the research topics listed above. PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann, University of Potsdam, Germany Nuno Lau, University of Aveiro, Portugal Thanapat Wanichanon, Mahidol University, Thailand Amy Eguchi, University of California San Diego CONTACT robocupsymposium2022(a)easychair.org<mailto:robocupsymposium2022@easychair.org>

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GORE_3 - Team and Participants Registration & Updates
by Arne Moos 03 Mar '22

03 Mar '22

Dear teams, this is a mail dealing with the official registration for the GORE_3 from the 12.04. till 17.04.22 in Hamburg, Germany. You can always find the latest information here on our website: https://gore-event.github.io/ *GORE_3 - 2022 Registration Fees and Deadlines*: MAJOR FEES: * Major Team €200 * Major Participant (Faculty/Staff/Student) €75 * Major Participant late registration €100 TEAM REGISTRATION: * Until March 20, 2022 PARTICIPANT REGISTRATION (ON-SITE): * Until March 20, 2022 Note: Remote teams only need to register the team. The *official invoice will be sent out at the beginning of April* with possible reduced costs due to sponsors. *GORE_3 - 2022 Registration*: For the registration process the team leader(s) collects all participants (including themselves) and then fills out this registration form: https://forms.gle/Qfg2MzPutGzGRpot7 /All data entered in the registration form will only be used for the purpose of registration, payment processing and creation of badges. Directly after the event this data will be deleted!/ Since we have some teams that only participate remotely and cannot ship robots we ask all teams to provide a few robots for a shared robot pool. These robots can always be used for your own team if you need them and Softbank Robotics will be onsite for direct repairs! Shortly before the event, we will send out a document regarding the use of photos and videos taken during the event, which all participants must sign and bring with them. More information on this in a later mail. /Note: /In order to modify the number of participants you can send a copy of the form to your mail (slider at the end of the registration form) and with this you can modify your registration. Or the registration form must be completely filled out another time (only the last submission before the deadline counts). Also late registration of participants, after the deadline, is possible but at a higher fee for the late registered participants! *GORE_3 - 2022 Venue*: For teams participating on-site, the venue is located in the Handelskammer <https://www.hk24.de/en/servicemarken/event-management/room-boersensaal-1159…> (Chamber of Commerce) of Hamburg. There we use the "Börsensaal" where two SPL fields will be set up. Around them are the team zones, Softbank Robotics, a Junior competition and space for the audience. Since the venue is located in the center of Hamburg and there are enough hotels around it, we did not book a contingent at certain hotels. VENUE ADDRESS: * Adolphsplatz 1 20457 Hamburg Germany <https://www.google.de/maps/place/Handelskammer+Hamburg/@53.549812,9.9888133…> Instructions for the on-site delivery or the exact address for shipping robots will be available in a later mail. *GORE_3 - 2022 Covid19/Corona Rules*: Due to the current Covid19/Corona situation, we will be paying attention to the health of all participants at this event. Therefore, access (both participants and spectators) is only possible under the *2G+ rule (vaccinated or recovered both with an additional official negative test or for boostered people a self-test)*. For this you need a proof which is valid in the EU. Even if many of the Corona rules could be dropped before the event, we currently assume, since we are staying with many people in an indoor area, that we require you to wear a medical mask all the time and do an official Corona test or self-test every day. All in all let's create a safe environment together so that no one has to worry about their health and can concentrate on playing robot soccer. *GORE_3 - 2022 Drinks and food*: For the thirst in between we provide refrigerators from which you can take drinks at the retail price. We do not offer catering/food booths because we are located in the center of Hamburg and there are many possibilities around to get food. *GORE_3 - 2022 SPL-Rules*: You can find the adapted SPL rules with added robot safety enhancements from the last GORE_1/2 under the following link: https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/Rules/tree/GORE_3 In general, please note that we will already play with the new*Event-Based-Communication* at the GORE_3. Also, some of the robot safety rules from the previous GORE rules could been relaxed and this will be decide at the first team leader meeting on site together with the teams. If you are interested in a committed participation in the GORE_3, please fill out the registration form <https://forms.gle/Qfg2MzPutGzGRpot7> from above. For further questions and remarks please send us a mail at gore.organisation(a)gmail.com. See you soon in Hamburg and stay healthy. The GORE_3 organizing committee Arne, Jörn, Patrick und Sebastian -- M.Sc. Arne Moos Robotics Research Institute Section Information Technology TU Dortmund University Otto-Hahn-Str. 8 44227 Dortmund, Germany arne.moos(a)tu-dortmund.de http://www.it.irf.tu-dortmund.de Phone: +49 231 755 7047 Fax: +49 231 755 3251 Important note: The information included in this e-mail is confidential. It is solely intended for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail please contact the sender and delete this message. Thank you. Without prejudice of e-mail correspondence, our statements are only legally binding when they are made in the conventional written form (with personal signature) or when such documents are sent by fax.

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RoboCup International Symposium 2022 - Call for Satellite Events
by Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann 24 Feb '22

24 Feb '22

* Call for Satellite Events * RoboCup International Symposium 2022 https://2022.robocup.org/symposium-call-for-satellite-events/ Submission of proposals: 3 April 2022 Notification to authors: 25 April 2022 Satellite Events: 17 or 18 July 2022 (RoboCup 2022: 11-17 July 2022) =========================================================== We invite you to organize a satellite event for the 25th RoboCup International Symposium, which will be held on 17 July 2022, in conjunction with RoboCup 2022 (11 July to 17 July 2022) in a hybrid setting. The RoboCup symposium is an annual event in which innovative, original research with relevance to areas of robotics and artificial intelligence is presented. The Symposium Program Co-Chairs would like to facilitate the organization of satellite workshops, focus groups, roundtable discussions, and other events that are related to RoboCup itself or the general aim of the RoboCup Symposium. This includes league-specific discussions about rules and/or roadmaps, shared infrastructure projects between leagues, as well as scientific workshops focusing on a particular research topic, among others. League committee members, as well as teams or individuals from RoboCup leagues participating in the Symposium, are invited to submit their proposals. The organizers of a satellite event are free to propose events between 2 and 8 hours in length to be held during or a day after the RoboCup Symposium (17 or 18 July) in a fully virtual, hybrid, or fully local format. IMPORTANT DATES =============== Submission of satellite events: 3 April 2022 Notification to authors: 25 April 2022 Satellite Events: 17 or 18 July 2022 (RoboCup 2022: 11-17 July 2022) SUBMISSION AND PROCEEDINGS ========================== Proposals will be evaluated by the Symposium Program Co-Chairs based on their thematic relevance to the RoboCup Symposium as well as their proposed schedule and required resources. Satellite events will not be included in the RoboCup Symposium proceedings. Proposals should be formatted following the LNAI author guidelines [0] and must be electronically submitted through the EasyChair electronic submission system [1]. Please follow the LaTeX template created by us by either downloading the template file [2] or by creating a private copy of this Overleaf template [3]. Submissions are limited to a 4-page extended abstract, excluding references. Each submission must include the following sections: * Name of the satellite event * A description of the format (e.g., discussion group, workshop, tutorial, invited talks, ...) and intended length of the event * Prefered date and time of the event (17 or 18; morning or afternoon, or the whole day [no lunch will be provided unless it’s on the 17th]) * A description of the content and aim of the satellite event * Names and contacts of all members of the organizing committee/group with one clearly marked person as the corresponding member of the organizing committee * The intended audience and the number of participants expected * Any resources required to organize the workshop After the acceptance of their proposal, organizers are expected to create a short description of their event as well as a website providing further information which will both be linked from the RoboCup symposium page on the RoboCup 2022 website. Organizers of accepted proposals for satellite events will receive a location for their event as well as other required resources (e.g., a projector), if possible. Apart from this, the organizers are responsible for organizing their event independent of the RoboCup Symposium. PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS ================== Maike Paetzel-Prüsmann, University of Potsdam, Germany Nuno Lau, University of Aveiro, Portugal Thanapat Wanichanon, Mahidol University, Thailand Amy Eguchi, University of California San Diego, USA CONTACT ======= robocupsymposium2022(a)easychair.org [0] https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu… [1] https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=robocupsymposium2022 [2] https://2022.robocup.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Symposium-Satellite-Eve… [3] https://de.overleaf.com/read/gqspxdtvpwsn

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[RC-Humanoid League Virtual Season] Next game day on Feb 20, 2022 at 15:00 (CET)
by Alessandra Rossi 17 Feb '22

17 Feb '22

Dear RoboCuppers, We are coming back with a new day of super interesting games on Sunday Feb 20! Grab popcorns, a beer or a warm coffee and join us in enjoying the thrill of RoboCup by sitting in your comfy place! Games will be streamed on Twitch Field A and commented by OCs and teams' members for getting insights on the games, the simulation, robots and software developed by the teams. Have a look at the website for more information about the games, including previous games, scores, and so on. For checking the time zone differences, you can use websites such as worldtimebuddy Best regards, Alessandra Dr. Alessandra Rossi Assistant Professor PRISCA research lab Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

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Reminder: RoboCup 2022 SPL Call for Participation
by Stefan Seering 10 Feb '22

10 Feb '22

Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2022 Standard Platform League spl.robocup.org <http://spl.robocup.org/> Monday 11th July through Sunday 17th July 2022 Bangkok, Thailand 2022.robocup.org <https://2022.robocup.org> RoboCup <https://www.robocup.org/> is an international initiative that fosters research and education in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions (RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupJunior) involving mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCup currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. *The Standard Platform League (SPL)* is characterized by all the teams using an identical robot platform. Participating researchers focus on algorithmic development for fully autonomous robots, i.e., robots that operate with no external control. The SPL at RoboCup 2022 will use V6, V5 or older versions of the NAO humanoid robot manufactured by SoftBank Robotics <https://www.softbankrobotics.com/emea/en/nao>. The SPL robot soccer team competition games at RoboCup 2022 will be played indoor and outdoor between teams of five robots on a 6m x 9m playing surface. Teams should be able to play on a randomly assigned indoor or outdoor field within one hour. The RoboCup 2022 SPL will host: * A 5 vs. 5 team competition as the main competition of the event. * A 7 vs. 7 competition. * A visual referee technical challenge. * A dynamic ball handling technical challenge. * A video analysis and statistics open research challenge. The 5 vs. 5 team competition will consist of a similar number of games for most teams compared to recent years. The structure from 2019 will be used to allow all teams to play games against teams with similar skill levels. See Appendix A.4 of the preliminary rulebook <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/> for more details. The teams participating in the team competition should also compete in some of the additional technical challenges. The 7 vs. 7 side competition extends the ideas from the mixed team competition, and 1 vs. 1 remote challenge from RoboCup 2021 to a standardized 7 vs. 7 NAO V6 on-site competition. Its goal is to encourage more collaborative game play and offer a chance for teams to work together more closely. Participating in 7 vs. 7 is recognized as participation in a technical challenge. Additional technical challenges offered at the competition are the visual referee challenge and the dynamic ball handling challenge. The open research challenge aims to provide the SPL with long term performance statistics based on video analysis. Please note that the open research challenge comes with additional deadlines as mentioned in the rulebook. All challenges will be detailed further with the release of the SPL rules document. To assist in adoption of V6 Robots source code examples and documentation regarding V6 robots were published on the SPL website <https://spl.robocup.org/v6-support/>. One can also find example code working with V6 Robots in the code released by participating teams. These examples allow teams to adapt their competition code from recent years more easily to encourage use of V6 Robots. If you need access to the RoboCup NAOqi Image and the specific documentation, please write an email (mentioning your team affiliation) to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. Survey The RoboCup Federation is committed to supporting an in-person event in Thailand from July 11th-17th, as long as the LOC in Thailand decides it is possible. For this purpose, the RoboCup Federation plans to send a survey to all teams considering to apply for RoboCup 2022. If you are considering to apply for participation this year, please send an email stating your interest in RoboCup SPL to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org by 12th of January 2022 in addition to your regular application. Qualification All interested teams must submit an original qualification document. For the qualification document to be considered, it must (1) be no longer than *6 pages* and (2) include all the following information in *sections with the specified headings*: 1. *Team Information:* the team name, the team leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team 2. *Code Usage:* Acknowledge the team’s use of any other team’s code (1) previously from 2017 to present and (2) anticipated at RoboCup 2022. If code is used from other teams, is this code integrated into a code base that is mainly designed by the applying team? If the applying team does not use any other team’s code, state so. For further details, please have a look into the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 3. *Own Contribution:* Describe in detail the ‘research publishable’ significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2022, in accordance with the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 4. *Past History:* provide game results in RoboCup Open competitions as well as main RoboCup competitions from 2018 onward. Include opponents and game scores from each competition in a table. State if the team plans to participate in any RoboCup Open competitions or friendlies prior to RoboCup 2022. 5. *Impact:* What is the impact of the team’s participation and research in RoboCup on (1) the SPL, (2) the team’s university/community? 6. *Video presentation:* Include a link to a video (maximum 5 minutes long, uploaded on the team’s web site or on some video server) that demonstrates the status of the team. The organizing committees use the video to determine the readiness of the team to compete effectively, and hence should focus on the team’s ability to play soccer. Teams who did not participate in the team competition at RoboCup 2019 or any challenge at RoboCup 2021 *must* include footage of at least one robot attempting to kick off and score (this footage must be captured as a single wide shot with no cuts). If robots from multiple teams are active in the footage (e.g., game footage), please include a textual overlay or additional document denoting which robots belong to the applying team for every scene. Videos of simulation contributions will also be accepted, but only when a real robot is unavailable. Preference will be given to teams that use real robots to show soccer skills in their video. 7. *Other:* Present any other information that you believe supports your application. If your application mentions more than one e-mail address, please specify which one should be used to contact your team regarding your application. Pre-Qualification Teams are given the chance to pre-qualify based on their performance at RoboCup 2019 and 2021. Teams will be pre-qualified for RoboCup 2022, if they submit the following original qualification document. Teams able to pre-qualify include: * B-Human * UNISABANA Herons SPL * rUNSWift * HULKs * Bembelbots * Berlin United- Nao TH * Nao Devils * HTWK Robots * UT Austin Villa The original qualification document must include: 1. *Team Information:* the team name, the team leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team 2. *Code Usage:* Acknowledge the team’s use of any other team’s code (1) previously from 2017 to present and (2) anticipated at RoboCup 2020. If code is used from other teams, is this code integrated into a code base that is mainly designed by the applying team? If the applying team does not use any other team’s code, state so. For further details, please have a look into the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 3. *Own Contribution:* Describe in detail the ‘research publishable’ significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2022, in accordance with the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 4. *TRR:* a link to a team research report describing their work for RoboCup 2019 or 2021 or both (which must be published in a publicly available location) 5. *Code Release:* a link to a public code release as detailed in the 2019 SPL rulebook If a joint 2019 team splits, only one team can be pre-qualified for 2022 (please, indicate which one). Qualification for Regional Opens Only Teams may also submit a short intent to participate in a regional open if they do not wish to participate in the 2022 RoboCup competition. Although teams may participate in regional opens without submitting this intent to participate, teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified will be eligible for future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for team competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced as soon as offers and conditions are finalized. Teams must submit the following information by 15th of February 2022: (1) The team name, leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team and (2) a short statement describing the status/progress of the team. A link to a short video showing robot soccer behaviours and/or game play (using robots or in simulation) may be included if available. Submission and Evaluation All applications with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by *15th of February 2022*, by email to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. Applications must not be sent to personal SPL TC/OC email addresses and must not contain video attachments. Note that applying serves as a statement of commitment to participate in the RoboCup 2022 SPL. The organizing committees are aware of the ongoing COVID situation and assume that all applications are subject to withdrawal due to COVID. Applications are not required to mention uncertainties related to COVID to avoid negative effects on future applications. We would rather encourage teams to plan optimistically and sign up with the possibility of withdrawing if situation requires it. For situations other than COVID: If you have doubts regarding the ability of your team to participate (due to funding, visas, etc.), please apply by the deadline but note this in your application. Declining to participate in any competition after the official early registration period has opened may negatively affect future applications (the later you decline, the worse it will affect future applications). Teams are encouraged to consider joint participation. Joint proposals will be judged on combined merit. Applications will be evaluated to consider a variety of components including: 1. Potential to play competitive games at RoboCup 2022 (demonstrated ability to play soccer, previous results, etc.) 2. Contributions (and potential contributions) to league (code releases/papers, active in organization, developing own code, etc.) 3. Diversity (region, team make-up, unique characteristics, etc.) Qualification decisions, including alternate lists, will be announced by 29th of February 2022. Robot Acquisition Teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified will be eligible for potential future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for team competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced if offers and conditions are finalized. /RoboCup 2022 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees/

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GORE_3 - Expression of interest - Reply by 20.02.22
by Arne Moos 09 Feb '22

09 Feb '22

Dear everyone, as many of you have already read, there will again be no German Open this year. To provide a reasonable alternative, the SPL and Humanoid League joined together to organize the *German Open Replacement Event (GORE)*. The event will take place between the *12.04. and 17.04.22*. To get a better feeling about the size of the event, we would like to ask you, if and in what way you and your team would like to participate. At the current time we are still planning to hold the event in *presence*, if the COVID-19 situation still allows it by then. If that is the case, the event will *take place in Hamburg, Germany in the Handelskammer <https://www.hk24.de/en/servicemarken/event-management>*. We are following the regulations advised by the RKI, which means only persons who recovered from COVID or fully vaccinated persons are admitted if they can also present a negative test result. People with a booster vaccination do not need a test. In any case, participants are required to wear a medical mask at all times. Since the situation is changing quickly and unpredictably, we are also preparing *online* (for HL: simulated; for SPL: running your code on a common robot pool from home) or *hybrid* (for SPL: teams that cannot be on site can either send robots or use shared robots from other teams similar to a robot pool) solutions, please let us know, which of these alternatives works best for you. For the SPL, *Softbank Robotics* has also already announced that they will be on site to facilitate repairs. We expect the participation to cost about *200€ per team plus 75€ per team member*, we will let you know the exact numbers as soon as we have them and it is likely to become less again. If you are interested in participating in the GORE, please send a reply to gore.organisation(a)gmail.com containing: * *Your team name* * *Your teams league (SPL or Humanoid)* * *Whether you want to participate in presence, online or hybrid* * *An approximate count of how many people you will bring* Please send your *replies by February 20th*, so that we can plan better. See you soon and stay healthy. The GORE organizing committee Arne, Jörn, Patrick and Sebastian -- M.Sc. Arne Moos Robotics Research Institute Section Information Technology TU Dortmund University Otto-Hahn-Str. 8 44227 Dortmund, Germany arne.moos(a)tu-dortmund.de http://www.it.irf.tu-dortmund.de Phone: +49 231 755 7047 Fax: +49 231 755 3251 Important note: The information included in this e-mail is confidential. It is solely intended for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail please contact the sender and delete this message. Thank you. Without prejudice of e-mail correspondence, our statements are only legally binding when they are made in the conventional written form (with personal signature) or when such documents are sent by fax.

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Reminder: RoboCup 2022 SPL Call for Participation
by Stefan Seering 06 Feb '22

06 Feb '22

Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2022 Standard Platform League spl.robocup.org <http://spl.robocup.org/> Monday 11th July through Sunday 17th July 2022 Bangkok, Thailand 2022.robocup.org <https://2022.robocup.org> RoboCup <https://www.robocup.org/> is an international initiative that fosters research and education in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions (RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupJunior) involving mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCup currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. *The Standard Platform League (SPL)* is characterized by all the teams using an identical robot platform. Participating researchers focus on algorithmic development for fully autonomous robots, i.e., robots that operate with no external control. The SPL at RoboCup 2022 will use V6, V5 or older versions of the NAO humanoid robot manufactured by SoftBank Robotics <https://www.softbankrobotics.com/emea/en/nao>. The SPL robot soccer team competition games at RoboCup 2022 will be played indoor and outdoor between teams of five robots on a 6m x 9m playing surface. Teams should be able to play on a randomly assigned indoor or outdoor field within one hour. The RoboCup 2022 SPL will host: * A 5 vs. 5 team competition as the main competition of the event. * A 7 vs. 7 competition. * A visual referee technical challenge. * A dynamic ball handling technical challenge. * A video analysis and statistics open research challenge. The 5 vs. 5 team competition will consist of a similar number of games for most teams compared to recent years. The structure from 2019 will be used to allow all teams to play games against teams with similar skill levels. See Appendix A.4 of the preliminary rulebook <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/> for more details. The teams participating in the team competition should also compete in some of the additional technical challenges. The 7 vs. 7 side competition extends the ideas from the mixed team competition, and 1 vs. 1 remote challenge from RoboCup 2021 to a standardized 7 vs. 7 NAO V6 on-site competition. Its goal is to encourage more collaborative game play and offer a chance for teams to work together more closely. Participating in 7 vs. 7 is recognized as participation in a technical challenge. Additional technical challenges offered at the competition are the visual referee challenge and the dynamic ball handling challenge. The open research challenge aims to provide the SPL with long term performance statistics based on video analysis. Please note that the open research challenge comes with additional deadlines as mentioned in the rulebook. All challenges will be detailed further with the release of the SPL rules document. To assist in adoption of V6 Robots source code examples and documentation regarding V6 robots were published on the SPL website <https://spl.robocup.org/v6-support/>. One can also find example code working with V6 Robots in the code released by participating teams. These examples allow teams to adapt their competition code from recent years more easily to encourage use of V6 Robots. If you need access to the RoboCup NAOqi Image and the specific documentation, please write an email (mentioning your team affiliation) to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. Survey The RoboCup Federation is committed to supporting an in-person event in Thailand from July 11th-17th, as long as the LOC in Thailand decides it is possible. For this purpose, the RoboCup Federation plans to send a survey to all teams considering to apply for RoboCup 2022. If you are considering to apply for participation this year, please send an email stating your interest in RoboCup SPL to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org by 12th of January 2022 in addition to your regular application. Qualification All interested teams must submit an original qualification document. For the qualification document to be considered, it must (1) be no longer than *6 pages* and (2) include all the following information in *sections with the specified headings*: 1. *Team Information:* the team name, the team leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team 2. *Code Usage:* Acknowledge the team’s use of any other team’s code (1) previously from 2017 to present and (2) anticipated at RoboCup 2022. If code is used from other teams, is this code integrated into a code base that is mainly designed by the applying team? If the applying team does not use any other team’s code, state so. For further details, please have a look into the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 3. *Own Contribution:* Describe in detail the ‘research publishable’ significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2022, in accordance with the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 4. *Past History:* provide game results in RoboCup Open competitions as well as main RoboCup competitions from 2018 onward. Include opponents and game scores from each competition in a table. State if the team plans to participate in any RoboCup Open competitions or friendlies prior to RoboCup 2022. 5. *Impact:* What is the impact of the team’s participation and research in RoboCup on (1) the SPL, (2) the team’s university/community? 6. *Video presentation:* Include a link to a video (maximum 5 minutes long, uploaded on the team’s web site or on some video server) that demonstrates the status of the team. The organizing committees use the video to determine the readiness of the team to compete effectively, and hence should focus on the team’s ability to play soccer. Teams who did not participate in the team competition at RoboCup 2019 or any challenge at RoboCup 2021 *must* include footage of at least one robot attempting to kick off and score (this footage must be captured as a single wide shot with no cuts). If robots from multiple teams are active in the footage (e.g., game footage), please include a textual overlay or additional document denoting which robots belong to the applying team for every scene. Videos of simulation contributions will also be accepted, but only when a real robot is unavailable. Preference will be given to teams that use real robots to show soccer skills in their video. 7. *Other:* Present any other information that you believe supports your application. If your application mentions more than one e-mail address, please specify which one should be used to contact your team regarding your application. Pre-Qualification Teams are given the chance to pre-qualify based on their performance at RoboCup 2019 and 2021. Teams will be pre-qualified for RoboCup 2022, if they submit the following original qualification document. Teams able to pre-qualify include: * B-Human * UNISABANA Herons SPL * rUNSWift * HULKs * Bembelbots * Berlin United- Nao TH * Nao Devils * HTWK Robots * UT Austin Villa The original qualification document must include: 1. *Team Information:* the team name, the team leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team 2. *Code Usage:* Acknowledge the team’s use of any other team’s code (1) previously from 2017 to present and (2) anticipated at RoboCup 2020. If code is used from other teams, is this code integrated into a code base that is mainly designed by the applying team? If the applying team does not use any other team’s code, state so. For further details, please have a look into the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 3. *Own Contribution:* Describe in detail the ‘research publishable’ significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2022, in accordance with the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 4. *TRR:* a link to a team research report describing their work for RoboCup 2019 or 2021 or both (which must be published in a publicly available location) 5. *Code Release:* a link to a public code release as detailed in the 2019 SPL rulebook If a joint 2019 team splits, only one team can be pre-qualified for 2022 (please, indicate which one). Qualification for Regional Opens Only Teams may also submit a short intent to participate in a regional open if they do not wish to participate in the 2022 RoboCup competition. Although teams may participate in regional opens without submitting this intent to participate, teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified will be eligible for future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for team competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced as soon as offers and conditions are finalized. Teams must submit the following information by 15th of February 2022: (1) The team name, leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team and (2) a short statement describing the status/progress of the team. A link to a short video showing robot soccer behaviours and/or game play (using robots or in simulation) may be included if available. Submission and Evaluation All applications with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by *15th of February 2022*, by email to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. Applications must not be sent to personal SPL TC/OC email addresses and must not contain video attachments. Note that applying serves as a statement of commitment to participate in the RoboCup 2022 SPL. The organizing committees are aware of the ongoing COVID situation and assume that all applications are subject to withdrawal due to COVID. Applications are not required to mention uncertainties related to COVID to avoid negative effects on future applications. We would rather encourage teams to plan optimistically and sign up with the possibility of withdrawing if situation requires it. For situations other than COVID: If you have doubts regarding the ability of your team to participate (due to funding, visas, etc.), please apply by the deadline but note this in your application. Declining to participate in any competition after the official early registration period has opened may negatively affect future applications (the later you decline, the worse it will affect future applications). Teams are encouraged to consider joint participation. Joint proposals will be judged on combined merit. Applications will be evaluated to consider a variety of components including: 1. Potential to play competitive games at RoboCup 2022 (demonstrated ability to play soccer, previous results, etc.) 2. Contributions (and potential contributions) to league (code releases/papers, active in organization, developing own code, etc.) 3. Diversity (region, team make-up, unique characteristics, etc.) Qualification decisions, including alternate lists, will be announced by 29th of February 2022. Robot Acquisition Teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified will be eligible for potential future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for team competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced if offers and conditions are finalized. /RoboCup 2022 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees/

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[RC-Humanoid League Virtual Season] Next game day on Jan 23 starting at 3pm (CET)
by Alessandra Rossi 02 Feb '22

02 Feb '22

Dear Robocuppers, Next game day of the RC-Humanoid League Virtual Season will be on on Jan 23 starting at 3pm (CET). Games will be streaming on Twitch Field A in the following order: 1 Bit-Bots vs NUbots 3:00 pm CET 2 Starkit vs UTRA 3:30 pm CET 3 MRL-HSL vs ITAndroids 4:00 pm CET 4 CIT Brains vs 01. RFC Berlin 4:30 pm CET Have a look at the website for more information about the games, including previous games, scores, and so on. https://humanoid.robocup.org/hl-vs2022/humanoid-league-virtual-season-2021-… For checking the time zone differences, you can use websites such as worldtimebuddy Best regards, Alessandra Dr. Alessandra Rossi Assistant Professor PRISCA research lab Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

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Pre-RoboCup 2022 (tomorrow)
by Arne Hasselbring 27 Jan '22

27 Jan '22

Dear teams, from January 27th to 29th between 12:00 and 15:00 UTC, the virtual Pre-RoboCup 2022 is taking place. This event shall promote and kick-off the upcoming RoboCup 2022. Each league presents an introduction to the league, rule book updates and some technical talk in a one-hour slot. The SPL's presentation is going to be tomorrow*, January 27th, from 13:00-14:00 UTC. In order to participate, you must register here to obtain the WebEx links and password: https://2022.robocup.org/pre-robocup/ Best regards, Arne Hasselbring SPL Organizing Committee * or today, depending on your location

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RoboCup 2022 Participation Survey
by Arne Hasselbring 18 Jan '22

18 Jan '22

Dear Teams, **If you intend to apply for participation in RoboCup 2022:** the RoboCup 2022 organizers would like to understand the factors that influence the decision and ability of teams to participate in RoboCup 2022. Therefore, they invite **all teams that consider applying for RoboCup 2022** to complete the following survey: https://forms.gle/ufN2b3pt9TkgKgYu9 The survey will be open until January 31st. Best regards, Arne Hasselbring SPL Organizing Committee

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Save the date - GORE 3.0 (SPL + Humanoid)
by Patrick Göttsch 14 Jan '22

14 Jan '22

Dear Teams, today we got the confirmation: We have rooms in the centre of Hamburg for on-site GORE 3.0 together with the humanoid teams. Further information about this event, how to register and fees will be published soon. Kind regards and have a nice weekend, Arne Moos and Patrick Göttsch

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Cancellation of GORE 2.0
by Patrick Göttsch 11 Jan '22

11 Jan '22

Dear all, due to the highly increasing numbers of Corona infections in Germany, Arne and I decided to postpone GORE 2.0. Currently we plan for having an (a: on-site, b: hybrid, c: remote) GORE 3.0 in April/May together with Humanoid league. For the moment we wait for the confirmation of the room. Kind regards, Arne Moos and Patrick Göttsch

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RoboCup Humanoid League Virtual Season: second day of games
by Alessandra Rossi 05 Jan '22

05 Jan '22

Dear RoboCuppers, The Humanoid League would like to invite you at the second day of games of the HL-Virtual Season. Teams are competing in a virtual tournament that will go every two weeks from Dec 19th to May 1st. Second day of games will be streamed on Sunday Jan 9th at 10am (CET time) on https://www.twitch.tv/robocuphumanoidfielda Full game schedule and more info are available on our website -> humanoid.robocup.org For checking the time zone differences, you can use websites such as worldtimebuddy Kind regards, Alessandra Dr. Alessandra Rossi Research Fellow PRISCA research lab University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy Visiting Researcher Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Adaptive Systems Research Group University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

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RoboCup 2022 SPL Call for Participation
by Stefan Seering 16 Dec '21

16 Dec '21

Call for Applications for Participation RoboCup 2022 Standard Platform League spl.robocup.org <http://spl.robocup.org/> Monday 11th July through Sunday 17th July 2022 Bangkok, Thailand 2022.robocup.org <https://2022.robocup.org> RoboCup <https://www.robocup.org/> is an international initiative that fosters research and education in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions (RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupJunior) involving mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCup currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. *The Standard Platform League (SPL)* is characterized by all the teams using an identical robot platform. Participating researchers focus on algorithmic development for fully autonomous robots, i.e., robots that operate with no external control. The SPL at RoboCup 2022 will use V6, V5 or older versions of the NAO humanoid robot manufactured by SoftBank Robotics <https://www.softbankrobotics.com/emea/en/nao>. The SPL robot soccer team competition games at RoboCup 2022 will be played indoor and outdoor between teams of five robots on a 6m x 9m playing surface. Teams should be able to play on a randomly assigned indoor or outdoor field within one hour. The RoboCup 2022 SPL will host: * A 5 vs. 5 team competition as the main competition of the event. * A 7 vs. 7 competition. * A visual referee technical challenge. * A dynamic ball handling technical challenge. * A video analysis and statistics open research challenge. The 5 vs. 5 team competition will consist of a similar number of games for most teams compared to recent years. The structure from 2019 will be used to allow all teams to play games against teams with similar skill levels. See Appendix A.4 of the preliminary rulebook <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/> for more details. The teams participating in the team competition should also compete in some of the additional technical challenges. The 7 vs. 7 side competition extends the ideas from the mixed team competition, and 1 vs. 1 remote challenge from RoboCup 2021 to a standardized 7 vs. 7 NAO V6 on-site competition. Its goal is to encourage more collaborative game play and offer a chance for teams to work together more closely. Participating in 7 vs. 7 is recognized as participation in a technical challenge. Additional technical challenges offered at the competition are the visual referee challenge and the dynamic ball handling challenge. The open research challenge aims to provide the SPL with long term performance statistics based on video analysis. Please note that the open research challenge comes with additional deadlines as mentioned in the rulebook. All challenges will be detailed further with the release of the SPL rules document. To assist in adoption of V6 Robots source code examples and documentation regarding V6 robots were published on the SPL website <https://spl.robocup.org/v6-support/>. One can also find example code working with V6 Robots in the code released by participating teams. These examples allow teams to adapt their competition code from recent years more easily to encourage use of V6 Robots. If you need access to the RoboCup NAOqi Image and the specific documentation, please write an email (mentioning your team affiliation) to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. Survey The RoboCup Federation is committed to supporting an in-person event in Thailand from July 11th-17th, as long as the LOC in Thailand decides it is possible. For this purpose, the RoboCup Federation plans to send a survey to all teams considering to apply for RoboCup 2022. If you are considering to apply for participation this year, please send an email stating your interest in RoboCup SPL to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org by 12th of January 2022 in addition to your regular application. Qualification All interested teams must submit an original qualification document. For the qualification document to be considered, it must (1) be no longer than *6 pages* and (2) include all the following information in *sections with the specified headings*: 1. *Team Information:* the team name, the team leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team 2. *Code Usage:* Acknowledge the team’s use of any other team’s code (1) previously from 2017 to present and (2) anticipated at RoboCup 2022. If code is used from other teams, is this code integrated into a code base that is mainly designed by the applying team? If the applying team does not use any other team’s code, state so. For further details, please have a look into the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 3. *Own Contribution:* Describe in detail the ‘research publishable’ significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2022, in accordance with the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 4. *Past History:* provide game results in RoboCup Open competitions as well as main RoboCup competitions from 2018 onward. Include opponents and game scores from each competition in a table. State if the team plans to participate in any RoboCup Open competitions or friendlies prior to RoboCup 2022. 5. *Impact:* What is the impact of the team’s participation and research in RoboCup on (1) the SPL, (2) the team’s university/community? 6. *Video presentation:* Include a link to a video (maximum 5 minutes long, uploaded on the team’s web site or on some video server) that demonstrates the status of the team. The organizing committees use the video to determine the readiness of the team to compete effectively, and hence should focus on the team’s ability to play soccer. Teams who did not participate in the team competition at RoboCup 2019 or any challenge at RoboCup 2021 *must* include footage of at least one robot attempting to kick off and score (this footage must be captured as a single wide shot with no cuts). If robots from multiple teams are active in the footage (e.g., game footage), please include a textual overlay or additional document denoting which robots belong to the applying team for every scene. Videos of simulation contributions will also be accepted, but only when a real robot is unavailable. Preference will be given to teams that use real robots to show soccer skills in their video. 7. *Other:* Present any other information that you believe supports your application. If your application mentions more than one e-mail address, please specify which one should be used to contact your team regarding your application. Pre-Qualification Teams are given the chance to pre-qualify based on their performance at RoboCup 2019 and 2021. Teams will be pre-qualified for RoboCup 2022, if they submit the following original qualification document. Teams able to pre-qualify include: * B-Human * UNISABANA Herons SPL * rUNSWift * HULKs * Bembelbots * Berlin United- Nao TH * Nao Devils * HTWK Robots * UT Austin Villa The original qualification document must include: 1. *Team Information:* the team name, the team leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team 2. *Code Usage:* Acknowledge the team’s use of any other team’s code (1) previously from 2017 to present and (2) anticipated at RoboCup 2020. If code is used from other teams, is this code integrated into a code base that is mainly designed by the applying team? If the applying team does not use any other team’s code, state so. For further details, please have a look into the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 3. *Own Contribution:* Describe in detail the ‘research publishable’ significant advancements the applying team has made and is going to use at RoboCup 2022, in accordance with the rule book, section A.1 <https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/>. 4. *TRR:* a link to a team research report describing their work for RoboCup 2019 or 2021 or both (which must be published in a publicly available location) 5. *Code Release:* a link to a public code release as detailed in the 2019 SPL rulebook If a joint 2019 team splits, only one team can be pre-qualified for 2022 (please, indicate which one). Qualification for Regional Opens Only Teams may also submit a short intent to participate in a regional open if they do not wish to participate in the 2022 RoboCup competition. Although teams may participate in regional opens without submitting this intent to participate, teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified will be eligible for future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for team competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced as soon as offers and conditions are finalized. Teams must submit the following information by 15th of February 2022: (1) The team name, leader(s), and the university/company affiliation(s) of the team and (2) a short statement describing the status/progress of the team. A link to a short video showing robot soccer behaviours and/or game play (using robots or in simulation) may be included if available. Submission and Evaluation All applications with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by *15th of February 2022*, by email to rc-spl-tc(a)lists.robocup.org. Applications must not be sent to personal SPL TC/OC email addresses and must not contain video attachments. Note that applying serves as a statement of commitment to participate in the RoboCup 2022 SPL. The organizing committees are aware of the ongoing COVID situation and assume that all applications are subject to withdrawal due to COVID. Applications are not required to mention uncertainties related to COVID to avoid negative effects on future applications. We would rather encourage teams to plan optimistically and sign up with the possibility of withdrawing if situation requires it. For situations other than COVID: If you have doubts regarding the ability of your team to participate (due to funding, visas, etc.), please apply by the deadline but note this in your application. Declining to participate in any competition after the official early registration period has opened may negatively affect future applications (the later you decline, the worse it will affect future applications). Teams are encouraged to consider joint participation. Joint proposals will be judged on combined merit. Applications will be evaluated to consider a variety of components including: 1. Potential to play competitive games at RoboCup 2022 (demonstrated ability to play soccer, previous results, etc.) 2. Contributions (and potential contributions) to league (code releases/papers, active in organization, developing own code, etc.) 3. Diversity (region, team make-up, unique characteristics, etc.) Qualification decisions, including alternate lists, will be announced by 29th of February 2022. Robot Acquisition Teams who submit an intent to participate and become qualified will be eligible for potential future special robot pricing. Special robot pricing for team competing in RoboCup Events are still being discussed. Updates about special prices will be announced if offers and conditions are finalized. /RoboCup 2022 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees/

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RoboCup Humanoid League Virtual Season
by Alessandra Rossi 16 Dec '21

16 Dec '21

Dear Robocuppers, The TCs and OCs of the Humanoid League would like to invite you at the HL-Virtual Season. Teams will compete in a virtual tournament. First games will be streamed on Sunday Dec 19th at 3pm (CET time) on https://www.twitch.tv/robocuphumanoidfielda More info -> humanoid.robocup.org For checking the time zone differences, you can use websites such as worldtimebuddy Kind regards, Alessandra Dr. Alessandra Rossi Postdoctoral researcher PRISCA research lab University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy Visiting Researcher Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Adaptive Systems Research Group University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

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GORE_2 - Call for Participation
by Patrick Göttsch 16 Dec '21

16 Dec '21

*Call for Participation*- *GORE_2* 3rd of February till 6th of February 2022 (Remote) RoboCup is an international initiative that fosters research and education in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions (RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupJunior) involving mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCup currently includes a number of different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research challenges. In addition to the SPL RoboCup events in 2022, we would like to offer GORE_2. GORE started as an replacement event for the cancelled GermanOpen in 2021 and focuses on 5 vs. 5 game play in two remote arenas in Europe. To maximize the number of played games, we use a modified version of the swiss tournament system. All human members of the teams stay at home or in their lab but only the robots will travel to one of the hosting arenas. The former rules for GORE 2021 can be found in this document: https://collaborating.tuhh.de/HULKs/gore/-/blob/master/GORe-Rules.pdf. For the GORE_2 event the new rules will be based on the once from 2021 but integrate the rule changes for RoboCup 2022 being drafted at the moment. The RoboCup rules have been modified regarding robot safety and standardization to make it easier for hosting teams to manage robots. We will update you as soon as they are out and we adapted to them. The website https://gore-event.netlify.app/ will also be updated soon. Here you find all key dates for GORE_2. 2021-12-01 Rules for GORE_2 2021-12-15Commitment to participate 2021-12-15 Commitment to host an arena 2021-12-20Confirmation for participants and hosting arenas 2022-01-24Submission of credentials for arena access 2022-01-24Arena network access contact 2022-01-24Sending robots to hosting arenas 2022-01-24Fill out robot id data 2022-02-03field_dimensions.json available 2022-02-03Upload images of the field 2022-02-03Welcome, Setup Day 2022-02-04Competition Day 1 2022-02-05Competition Day 2 2022-02-06Competition Day 3 2022-02-08Return robots back to teams If you have further questions or remarks, please let us know. Registration We plan to register 8 teams, four for each arena. All interested teams must submit an application for participation as team or as hosting team via email. Please include the following information into your email: 1. Team Name 2. Contact person name and email 3. Commitment to participate 4. Can and do you want to provide a host arena? 5. How many V6 NAOs (at least 4) do you sent to a hosting arena?* 6. Do you comply to the Code of Honor? 7. Providing a return address for robots * If you cannot sent or you are not allowed to sent your robots unattended, you could ask another team or teams to provide more robots, to enable your participation. Submission and Evaluation All applications must be submitted by* 15th of December 2021*, by email to gore.organisation(a)gmail.com Applications will be evaluated and a variety of components will be considered. Qualification decisions, including alternate lists, will be announced by *20th of December 2021*. Arne Moos and Patrick Göttsch Organisers of GORE_2

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RCF asks for news from you
by Patrick Göttsch 02 Dec '21

02 Dec '21

Dear Teams, we got an request from April for the RoboCup Federation. She asks all of us: With the start of a new month, I am writing to ask that you please let me know if there is anything that has happened in your lab or any of the RoboCup labs associated with your league that might be worth posting about on our RoboCup social media channels. A reminder that the news does not all have to be directly RoboCup-related. We'd like to post on our channels about all of the successes and achievements of RoboCup participants. Please write her or us, if you have anything interesting to report. Hope to see you at vRoHOW (www.rohow.de) tomorrow and the whole weekend. Kind regards, Patrick (on behalf of the TC)

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Fwd: [RoboCup-worldwide] RCAP 2021
by Patrick Göttsch 02 Dec '21

02 Dec '21

Dear all RoboCuppers, I like to share about the news of RoboCup Asia Pacific (RCAP) 2021 Aichi, Japan. In the last weekend, RCAP 2021 was successfully held in person. The following article reports about the event. https://robotstart.info/2021/11/28/rcap21-report.html Unfortunately, the article is in Japanese, but you can see several photo and movies that provide RoboCup atmosphere!!! --Itsuki Noda _______________________________________________ RoboCup-worldwide mailing list RoboCup-worldwide(a)lists.robocup.org https://lists.robocup.org/listinfo/robocup-worldwide

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First Draft of the 2022 SPL Rules
by Patrick Göttsch 11 Nov '21

11 Nov '21

Dear SPL teams, today, we published the first draft of the SPL 2022 rules. You can find them under - https://spl.robocup.org/downloads/ or - https://github.com/RoboCup-SPL/Rules We published also a PDF Version of the diff, to give you an overview of the changes since 2019. We kindly ask you to review the draft version of the rules. On the upcoming RoHOW 2022 in the beginning of December we will have a session to discuss the proposed draft. Please sent us your comments and remarks via email or as github issue until the 10th of December. The TC will than review your comments and create a 2nd draft until the end of this year. Thanks a lot and have a good day Patrick (On the behalf of the TC)

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vRoHOW 2021 - Call for participation
by Patrick Göttsch 03 Nov '21

03 Nov '21

Dear fellow RoboCup teams, This is the Call for participation of the virtual Robotic Hamburg Open Workshop (vRoHOW) 2021. The event will take place over the weekend from 3rd to 5th of December. As last year, the event will be driven by contributions in the form of talks, presentations and workshops. Discord will be our venue with multiple rooms and areas prepared. Combined with additional tools and your participation we will bring the virtual RoHOW to life. For participation do the following: Send a message to hulks(a)tuhh.de until the 15th of November 2021 expressing your interest in participation. This message should include your team name and a contact person. There will be no participation fee! We are looking forward to see you during the event! Keep safe and stay healthy Team HULKs

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GermanOpen 2022 canceled
by Patrick Göttsch 19 Oct '21

19 Oct '21

Dear SPL-Teams, you may have already heard or read it, the GermanOpen 2022 in Magdeburg got canceled. The regional RoboCup organization team is working on a solution for 2023 onwards, but due to the lack of time not for 2022. But I will with support form my team and other try to organize like this year an on-site GermanOpen replacement event in northern Germany for the time around April/May. I will keep you updated when I have further information for you. Have a nice day and I wish you all the best Best regards, Patrick

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vRoHOW 2021
by Patrick Göttsch 13 Oct '21

13 Oct '21

Dear fellow RoboCup teams, We are proud to announce the next virtual Robotic Hamburg Open Workshop (vRoHOW) 2021. The event will take place from 3th to 5th of December. This year's vRoHOW will have the same goals as every year: Exchanging knowledge in workshops and discussions, expanding your horizon in talks, and chatting together with a cold beer or soft drink. Discord will be our venue with multiple rooms and areas prepared. Combined with additional tools and your participation we will bring the virtual RoHOW to life. Sounds good? There will be no participation fee! A detailed "Call for participation" will follow in the near future. As we currently are in a creative and early planning stage, we encourage you to send us ideas, feedback or any other vRoHOW related input. Inspired by the captivating and warm atmosphere of previous RoHOWs, we are looking forward to build this virtual event with you together. See you soon Team HULKs

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Updates on rules changes for RoboCup 2022
by Timothy Wiley 16 Sep '21

16 Sep '21

Dear SPL Teams, The TC is in the process of determining the rules for the 2022 competition. We’d like to keep the league up-to-date on decision that have been made, which may help teams plan and prepare for 2022. In-Person RoboCup 2022 At this stage, the TC is proceeding under the presumption that RC2022 will be held in-person, as scheduled in Thailand. If this changes, we’ll keep the league informed. Structure of the Competition RC2022 will return to a classic SPL competition structure, featuring: * Main Competition * Champions Cup (12 teams) * Challenge Shield (12 teams) * 7 vs 7 competition: * A 7 vs 7 competition (7 players per side) will replace the mixed-team competition * Follows standard rules (with minor modifications for 7 players) * Some robots may be drawn from a pool of available robots to facilitate teams participating in the competition * Technical Challenges * The TC are considering a variety of technical challenges, and have narrowed down the possibilities to: * Visual Referee Challenge: robots will have to recognise some visual signal(s) from the referee. * Ball Handling Challenge: details to be confirmed, but triangle or give-and-go passing between robots in a game-like situation could be an example * Video Analysis / Game Statistics Challenge: detect game actions (e.g. ball touches, passes, time under control) from the sideline elevated go-pro type camera viewpoint Separation of Championship Cup and Challenge Shield The TC is also considering “separating” the Championship Cup and Challenge Shield for an individual year, so that teams would not move between the two leagues within the same competition. We have gathered responses from Challenge Shield teams and are considering whether to proceed on this change. Rules Changes At this time, the TC believe that many teams are still implementing the rules changes originally intended for the 2020/2021 competitions. Thus, the TC are not planning of significant rules changes for the main competition. The only significant rules changes are: * Limitation to Event-based communication (limited messages per game instead of limited messages per second). * Continuation of standardising the game set-up and execution procedures from last year. Regards, Timothy Wiley On behalf of the RoboCup Soccer SPL TC.

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LAST CALL - RoboCup Brazil Open
by Comunicação RoboCup 13 Sep '21

13 Sep '21

Hi teams, Last days to sign up for RoboCup Brazil Open! Do not leave to the last minute! The event will be online, streamed live on our youtube channels. Already registered? Did you check if everyone on the team is registered correctly? If you have any questions, please send it to us by email at organizacao(a)cbrobotica.org ! *Registrations are open for RoboCup Brazil Open* *The event will be virtual, with the same categories of RoboCup Federation* RoboCup Brazil launches the RoboCup Brazil Open, a virtual event with the same categories of the Robocup WorldWide. Registrations are now open for teams from all over the world. All the categories have been adapted and will happen in a fully remote format, using simulators, challenges and submission of articles written by the teams. Our goal is to disseminate the studies and technologies developed by universities in the field of robotics and IA. The event will happen in October 11th-15th, and will be broadcast through lives on the RoboCup Brazil Youtube channel. *Categories:* RoboCup Open Flying Robot Trial League Small Size Soccer Humanoid League Standard Plataform League (SPL) Simulation 2D Simulation 3D RoboCup at@Home IEEE Humanoid Robot Racing (HRR) IEEE Open IEEE Standard Educational Kit (SEK) IEEE Very Small Size Soccer RoboCup Junior Soccer Open RoboCup Junior Rescue Maze Primary RoboCup Junior Rescue Maze RoboCup Junior Rescue Simulation Primary RoboCup Junior Rescue Simulation Open * Registration* To participate, you and your team must register by september 15th, on the website: www.cbrobotica.org . The registration fee is US$ 50 per team. *RoboCup Brasil is a non-profit civil association, organized by volunteer professors and researchers. The association holds the Brazilian Robotics Olympiad, the Brazilian Robotics Competition and the National Robotics Show.-- Patrícia VergaraComunicação RoboCup Brasil(11) 9.8686-4993www.robocup.org.br <http://www.robocup.org.br>*

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vRoHOW 2021 - Save the date
by Patrick Göttsch 09 Sep '21

09 Sep '21

Dear fellow RoboCup teams, We are proud to announce the next virtual Robotic Hamburg Open Workshop (vRoHOW) 2021. The event will take place from 3rd to 5th of December. This year's vRoHOW will have the same goals as every year: Exchanging knowledge in workshops and discussions, expanding your horizon in talks, and chatting together with a cold beer or soft drink. Discord will be our venue with multiple rooms and areas prepared. Combined with additional tools and your participation we will bring the virtual RoHOW to life. Sounds good? There will be no participation fee! A detailed "Call for participation" will follow in the near future. As we currently are in a creative and early planning stage, we encourage you to send us ideas, feedback or any other vRoHOW related input. Inspired by the captivating and warm atmosphere of previous RoHOWs, we are looking forward to build this virtual event with you together. See you soon Team HULKs

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Feedback on potential rule change(s) separating Challenge Shield and Champions Cup
by Timothy Wiley 05 Sep '21

05 Sep '21

Dear SPL Teams, For the attention of teams who participate in the RoboCup Challenge Shield. One of the proposals that the TC is considering is having a separation in rules between the Champions Cup and the Challenge Shield. The purpose of this is to allow the top teams to be sufficiently challenged by rule changes without forcing every team to make the same rate of progress. The implications of this change are as follows: * Teams would not be able to move between the Challenge Shield and Champions Cup at a single RoboCup event. * This would permit the rule set for the Challenge Shield to be a subset of the the Champions Cup rules within the same year. * Between years if a team was “promoted" from the Challenge Shield to the Champions Cup, they would need some extra effort to step up to the rule set of the Champions Cup. * Possible real differences include: * Different number of robots on each team such as 5v5 in the challenger league and 7v7 in the championship league. * New rules changes might start in the Champions Cup and then be rolled out to the Challenge Shield in later years. We would like the feedback of the Challenge Shield teams (who had limited representation at RoboCup 2021 team leader meetings) on potential change to see if this would be a change that they would support. Please respond by reply to this email by September 5th if with your comments and feedback on this change and if your team supports a split in the rules between the two leagues within a given year. Regards, Timothy Wiley On behalf of the RoboCup Soccer SPL TC.

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CFP: RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2021 (RCAP 2021)
by Asad Norouzi 03 Sep '21

03 Sep '21

*Apologies for duplicate messages* ============== Call for Participation =============== *RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2021 (RCAP 2021)* 25-29 November 2021 https://2021.robocupap.org/eng/participation.html RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2021 Aichi Japan (RCAP 2021) will be held at Aichi Sky Expo (Aichi International Convention & Exhibition Center), November 25-29, 2021. RCAP 2021 will be held in a hybrid ON-SITE and VIRTUAL format. Due to the current uncertainties of Covid-19, ON-SITE competitions will only open to participants from Japan. - ON-SITE Competitions: Participants from Japan. - VIRTUAL Competitions: Participants from all over the world. *LEAGUES:* Virtual Competitions are open to participants from all over the world, with most of the leagues of RoboCup 2021 Worldwide. For details of leagues, please refer to: https://2021.robocupap.org/eng/leagues.html *REGISTRATION:* All teams are required to pre-register through the online form: https://2021.robocupap.org/eng/registration.html *IMPORTANT DATES:* - Deadline for pre-registration (both online and virtual competitions): 30 September 2021 - Announcement of qualified teams: 14 October 2021 - Deadline for registration: 4 November 2021 *REGISTRATION FEES:* The registration fee is waived for all Japanese teams/members. The registration fee for teams to participate in virtual competitions (except teams from Japan): - Major Team Registration Fee: Waived - Major Staff/Students: USD60/person - Junior Team Registration Fee: Waived - Junior Students/Mentors: USD40/person *SYMPOSIUM:* https://2021.robocupap.org/eng/symposium.html *CONTACT:* For inquiries please contact us via the hereunder email addresses: - Aichi Local Organizing Committee (General Enquiries, On-site competitions): - rcap2021(a)intergroup.co.jp - RCAP Office (Registration fees and payments, Virtual competitions): - office(a)robocupap.org For more information please visit our official website at https://2021 .robocupap.org/eng/index.html We look forward to welcoming you to RCAP 2021 Aichi Japan! Best Regards, RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP) Office, RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2021 (RCAP 2021) Organizing Committee ____________________________________

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RoboCup Brazil Open
by Comunicação RoboCup 23 Jul '21

23 Jul '21

Hi teams, *Registrations are open for RoboCup Brazil Open* *The event will be virtual, with the same categories of RoboCup Federation* RoboCup Brazil launches the RoboCup Brazil Open, a virtual event with the same categories of the Robocup WorldWide. Registrations are now open for teams from all over the world. All the categories have been adapted and will happen in a fully remote format, using simulators, challenges and submission of articles written by the teams. Our goal is to disseminate the studies and technologies developed by universities in the field of robotics and IA. The event will happen in October 11th-15th, and will be broadcast through lives on the RoboCup Brazil Youtube channel. In 2020, more than 700 students from Latin American attended the event. *Categories:* RoboCup Open Flying Robot Trial League Small Size Soccer Humanoid League Standard Plataform League (SPL) Simulation 2D Simulation 3D RoboCup at@Home IEEE Humanoid Robot Racing (HRR) IEEE Open IEEE Standard Educational Kit (SEK) IEEE Very Small Size Soccer RoboCup Junior Soccer Open RoboCup Junior Rescue Maze Primary RoboCup Junior Rescue Maze RoboCup Junior Rescue Simulation Primary RoboCup Junior Rescue Simulation Open * Registration* To participate, you and your team must register by August 30th, on the website: www.cbrobotica.org . The registration fee is US$ 50 per team. *RoboCup Brasil is a non-profit civil association, organized by volunteer professors and researchers. The association holds the Brazilian Robotics Olympiad, the Brazilian Robotics Competition and the National Robotics Show.* -- Patrícia Vergara Comunicação RoboCup Brasil +55 (11) 9.8686-4993 www.robocup.org.br

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Softbank warranty extensions
by Rico Tilgner 22 Jul '21

22 Jul '21

Hi teams, Good news for everyone that needs to extend warranties on their Naos! :) We've managed to extend the 540EUR warranty extension offer from https://spl.robocup.org/softbank-pricing-2021/. The offer now applies to both 2018 and 2019 bought Nao v6 and will be available until the end of August. Rico

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SPQR Team announce B-Human code usage
by Vincenzo Suriani 26 Jun '21

26 Jun '21

Dear RoboCup 2021 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees, Dear RoboCup SPL teams, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the B-Human code release license, the SPQR Team announces the use of the B-Human code for the ongoing RoboCup 2021. We use some of the native B-Human modules including walking, simulation, whistle recognition, calibration, and behavior design system. Instead, we use our own code for perception, coordination, and multi-robot distributed decision making. The following parts of the SPQR Team code are original: - Visual perception - Team coordination - Data fusion among the robots - Behaviors - Motion primitives (besides get-ups) - Reinforcement Learning Integration The following parts are modifications of the original B-Human code: - Localization - Communication network We would like to thank the B-Human Team for sharing their code and acknowledge their contribution to the RoboCup SPL. We finally apologize for the delayed communication. Kind regards, Vincenzo Suriani, on behalf of the SPQR Team

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R-ZWEI KICKERS announce B-Human code usage
by Adrian Müller 15 Jun '21

15 Jun '21

Dear Robocup SPL Community, in accordance to the terms and conditions of the BHuman code release license we - the team R-ZWEI KICKERS, UAS Kaiserslautern, Germany - like to announce the use of part of the B-Human 2019 code in the upcoming competitions 2021. Currently, our code base is a modified version of the B-Human Code Drop 2019. We modified: - team behaviour control and the SimRobot environment to allow for automatic test procedures. - We developed completely custom features including the teach-in of robot behaviour (using PS4-controller, mapping key presses to skills and recording them for playback), and - a data mining analysis which clusters the robot poses to identify trigger points for our teach-in cards, and - coupled the data mining classifier to a reinforcement learning (Q-learning) module that learns the most-effective combination of rule-based and teach-in cards while playing simulated games. - Additionally, we developed our own image recognition and a multi-object detection model, based on Keras/Yolo - Currently, we develop our own kick motions and dribbling skills, and we start applying - data augmentation to increase the robustness of our object detection and - expand the automatic referee to apply the passing-challenge rules, so we can use Q-learning here as well. This email is sent respecting the code usage of the B-Human team available on their github page. R-ZWEI KICKERS would like to thank B-Human for developing this great platform! You can reach us at http://smart-machines.hs-kl.de/projekte/hs-kl-robocup/ If you are interested in more technical details please mail me for a copy of our white paper. Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards Prof. Adrian Müller, PSM-1, CSM http://www.hs-kl.de/~amueller Projektleitung AK Smart-Machines http://smart-machines.hs-kl.de/ tel: +49 631/3724-5329 fax: -5313 office: H243 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hochschule Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences Fachbereich I/MST Department of Computer Sciences and Microsystem Technology Amerikastr. 1 D 66482 Zweibruecken -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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robocup nao list migiration
by Ali Modaresi 18 May '21

18 May '21

Dear robocup-nao subscribers, RoboCup IT Team is currently migrating the mailing lists which are still hosted at Georgia Tech, to a server at robocup.org, because the old mailing list is being blocked by an increasing number of servers. The new address of the list (to be used to send messages to all the subscribers) is robocup-nao(a)lists.robocup.org The old address is not working anymore, therefore, please update the list address with the new one and remove the old one. Please note that the old passwords are not usable anymore. In order to get your password please enter your email address on https://lists.robocup.org/options/robocup-nao and then click on the remind button. You will receive an email with your password immediately. In addition, you can share the list link via https://lists.robocup.org/listinfo/robocup-nao Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. Best regards, ╔════════════════════╗ ║ Ali Modaresi ║ ║ RoboCup IT support ║ ╚════════════════════╝

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