July 2025 - RoboCup-small - lists.robocup.org

Major Updates Regarding the Future of the Small Size League
by Nicolai Ommer 30 Jul '25

30 Jul '25

Dear SSL RoboCup Teams, There are major upcoming changes to RoboCup Soccer that affect the SSL and its members. What is Happening? To start, the trustees are taking substantial action to streamline RoboCup Soccer in pursuit of the 2050 goal of playing a match against the World Cup winner. The first and most substantial change is that all soccer leagues will be converging on humanoid (bipedal) robots by 2028. The new leagues will be related to humanoid robotics and simulation only. The Small Size League will no longer be a major category event after the 2027 RoboCup (the SSL will be at the 2027 event, and not at the 2028 event and after). This is true for many of the other leagues, and there will be substantial changes to the humanoid rules and non-soccer events as well. The official press release from the RoboCup federation can be found here: https://www.robocup.org/news/181 The SSL community has several transition paths forward. We understand each team is unique, and will have team specific concerns. We have two major paths forward right now: SSL regional events, possibly with Junior collaboration, and transition to humanoid league. We have explicitly been told by the trustees we are invited to continue our league under the RoboCup name at regional events after 2027. Our community already has several strong regional events including the German Open, RoboCup Brazil, and the Japan Open. The EC/TC/OC believes we have strong support from the organizers of these regionals, though work will need to be done to transition to and support these events if additional teams attend. The committee is evaluating ways to keep the international community together, like by selecting one regional per year, after 2027, as a “super regional” that would rotate among the current regional events similar to the international event. The trustees have also begun a transition plan for teams who would like to switch to one of the humanoid leagues and remain on the world event stage. For teams looking to transition quickly, the trustees are working to get discounts and collaborative use of commercial bipedal robot platforms. We will communicate additional details about the humanoid rules and transition assistance as it becomes available. Expect additional communication directly from the governing bodies of global RoboCup. We may also have an opportunity to convert the SSL to a simplified bridging league in Junior, with the intention of creating a pipeline of students from RoboCup Junior, through the SSL, into humanoid. If this succeeds, we will likely still hold regional events, but then will also have a presence on the world stage in some form, though not in the major event category. This is an evolution of the collaboration games we have been hosting with Junior for the past few years. The committees are working hard to quickly determine what this will look like. We understand these are big changes and they may come as a surprise to all of you. The committee members only just found out about the new direction during this year's RoboCup, as the overall desires of the RoboCup trustees became more clear. What to expect in the coming months. Obviously, things will be changing. The committees will be hosting a meeting for teams that could not attend the competition, and for teams that would like to meet with us again. This meeting will take place on August 9th. We will announce the time soon. It will cover the same content that was covered in the Open TC/OC meeting in Brazil. We will have time for questions at the end. After, expect a series of short surveys about transition paths and team concerns. This will help us support you, regardless of what path makes sense for your team. Second, expect technical challenges and other requests from the committee to look differently. The things we ask you to do may shift focus to better support strong regionals. The committees have always and will always support our community and teams. It has been amazing getting to know each and every one of you. You and your teams make our SSL community special. We have over two years to develop our plans and make sure teams are healthy. We are working hard for you. Feel free to email us directly with specific concerns or questions, even though we may not have answers right now. We are committed to clear and timely communication as new information becomes available. We look forward to seeing everyone in South Korea for next year’s major event! Best Regards, SSL EC/TC/OC Nicolai Ommer Tobias Heineken Leonardo da Silva Costa Emiel Steerneman Joao Guilherme Oliveira Carvalho de Melo William Stuckey David Brand Emy Ganzeboom Lucas Cavalcanti

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Presentation for Junior - Major Committee Meeting
by David Brand 16 Jul '25

16 Jul '25

Hi, I have started with a draft for the Presentation of the Cooperation between major and junior this evening and am currently still working on filling it. Nonethelesse, please have a look at it and add additional things, as well as correct things: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15T91coH-2V5sCZrwMavAp1KP6mBrJWqedEo… Bets regards, David.

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Open OC/TC Meeting Road Map and Slide Deck
by Will Stuckey 16 Jul '25

16 Jul '25

Hello Everyone, As part of the open OC/TC meeting, we usually discuss the future of the league. The OC and TC have prepared a draft of a 5 year roadmap and have also prepared a slide deck (which we may not be able to present) summarizing a plan we have to take the league forward. This is a guide for discussion, not a final document. We would like feedback at the OC/TC meeting. For any team who would like to give extended feedback, we also welcome replies to this email. As detailed in the documents, we have identified three possible major thrusts for improvement: 1. Improving the new and young team experience 2. Improving motion control through benchmarking 3. Exploring and integrating novel AI Links included Road Map Document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CkvQC72z7nOF-CXU_ZERyf2YjiO2FxNZG9BaXuB… Summary Slide Deck: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OiC37CqpEBelR_R5LyKga_e_RLm2oHcN/ed… We look forward to hearing your thoughts at the meeting and via email. Best, Will + OC/TC

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Technical Challenge : Obstacle Avoidance scenarios
by Emiel Steerneman 15 Jul '25

15 Jul '25

Dear teams, Apologies for the previous email. I pressed some secret *send-this-email-out-immediately *keybinding. Attached to this mail you will find the 9 scenarios for the obstacle avoidance technical challenge. Note that there are *no *virtual lines between any robots in these scenarios. If you have not signed up yet for either or both of the technical challenges <https://ssl.robocup.org/history-of-technical-challenges/>, you can do so via the link <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1WkwqbklRrxbV9sm3unPaqdBr0mw-JFMI-Lw_FB5UPm…> below. If your team will not attend any technical challenges, please also fill this out via the link below. The signup deadline is *today, July 15th, 20:00 o’clock BRT(Salvador local time).* Signup link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1WkwqbklRrxbV9sm3unPaqdBr0mw-JFMI-Lw_FB5UPm… <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1WkwqbklRrxbV9sm3unPaqdBr0mw-JFMI-Lw_FB5UPm…> Best regards, Emiel Steerneman - TC

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Technical Challenge : Obstacle Avoidance scenarios
by Emiel Steerneman 15 Jul '25

15 Jul '25

Dear teams, Attached to this mail you will find the 9 scenarios for the obstacle avoidance technical challenge. Note that there are *no *virtual lines between any robots in these scenarios. If you have not signed up yet either or both of the technical challenges, you can do so via the link below. Also, pl https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1WkwqbklRrxbV9sm3unPaqdBr0mw-JFMI-Lw_FB5UPm…

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First day of set up!
by Carla Cosenza 15 Jul '25

15 Jul '25

Hello! Welcome everyone to the first day of set up at RoboCup Salvador! Here is the link to the welcome packet<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dM94b3HAYNjhw33NID7ebjI_1O5GGuKGgA-kuiV…> that is also found on your allocated work table. It has all the links necessary for the event. Please do take a look as the updated schedule is there! Please do not use the field until further notice! Happy to see all of you, Carla Cosenza RoboCup Small Size League | Organizing Committee

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RC 2025 one week out
by David Brand 08 Jul '25

08 Jul '25

Hello, Since the competition is one week from now, we want to send you another update Radio Information Request Please fill out the radio information survey so we know what radio technologies your team is using. This will let us allocate you a frequency and deconflict teams and the venue. The link is: https://forms.gle/eyNMYQga9B4DdseU8 Technical Challenges This year we will be hosting two technical challenges. The [team vs. team passing challenge](https://robocup-ssl.github.io/technical-challenge-rules/2025-ssl-team-vs-team-passing-challenge.html) with an updated ranking system open for teams from both divisions. On top of that, we will have a new [obstacle avoidance challenge](https://robocup-ssl.github.io/technical-challenge-rules/2025-ssl-obstacle-avoidance-challenge.html), which is only open for Div B teams. If you want to participate in at least one challenge please submit your intent via the corresponding [form](https://forms.gle/sd6ADCTkkcYU6DuY6) until July 15th, 20:00 o’clock BRT(Salvador local time). Award Voting Like last year we will be doing the voting this year via online forms. As we especially wanted to give you more time to evaluate the Open Source Submissions as well as the (E)TDPs, we also already set up the voting forms for both of them: - [Open Source Ballots](https://forms.gle/ktxk2gXsWgGgEQfM8) - [Best (E)TDP](https://forms.gle/yZEzGtcZLzgySHQ57) But as in the previous years the voting will only be due during the RoboCup as the Open Source Presentation is an essential part of the award. Also as last year you will be getting a unique team code, so that malicious votes can be eliminated. In case you already want to look at the questions beforehand, feel free to use “test” as team name as well as the unique code, which allows us to easily delete these votes. Referee Quiz As a quick reminder from the last mail, every team participating in the RoboCup2025 needs to be able to fill out their assigned impartial roles for matches, when they do not play. These members have to take the [referee quiz](https://forms.gle/8frZcLYPx5o3KVF29) beforehand. In case you have any open questions or any trouble during your travel, please let the OC/TC know as soon as possible. This allows us to see whether we can help you in any way. See you in Salvador! David, on behalf of the SSL committee

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Call for Scientific Publication Updates in SSL (pls submit until July 11th 🥺)
by Masahide ITO 07 Jul '25

07 Jul '25

Hi everyone, We would like to know the latest updates of your scientific publications. This is very important not only to share scientific and engineering results with you all but also for the SSL to show the presence in the RoboCup community. If you published international conference papers and journal papers within one year, please submit the information at the following link: https://forms.gle/R3zSRzxecyPwtoPD6 It would be great to submit *until July 11th*. The collected information will be published at the scientific publications page of the SSL website, i.e., https://ssl.robocup.org/scientific-publications/ Thank you! Masa School of Information Science and Technology Aichi Prefectural University 1522-3 Ibaragabasama, Nagakute, Aichi 480-1198, JAPAN Phone: +81-561-76-8600 (direct) / Fax: +81-561-64-1108 (share) Email: masa-ito(a)ist.aichi-pu.ac.jp

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RoboCup 2025 – Open Source Award Submission The A-Team
by Matt 02 Jul '25

02 Jul '25

Hello league-mates, This year, The A-Team would like to submit ssl_ros_bridge for the Open Source Award. https://github.com/SSL-A-Team/ssl_ros_bridge ssl_ros_bridge is a small collection of ROS2 utilities to help teams using ROS connect to SSL league software interfaces. It provides bridge nodes which manage network connections to ssl-vision and ssl-game-controller, exposing ROS topics and services mirroring the protobuf packets used by the league software. We hope this open source software will especially help new teams get started with SSL software without having to learn our league's network protocols in detail. It is offered as its own repository to make including it in other team's software easier. Thank you for your consideration, ~Matthew Barulic The A-Team

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RC 2025 two weeks out
by David Brand 01 Jul '25

01 Jul '25

Hi, As every year during the weeks before the RoboCup the number of mails increases and we just have a new one with more info for you: Schedule Using the random numbers 8902 and 5478, as by https://www.random.org/integers/?num=2&min=1&max=10000&col=5&base=10&format…, we got the following groups for the Division B tournament: ==== Grouping ==== Group A: - The-A-Team (USA) - ITAndroids (Brazil) - RoboFEI (BrazilB) - The-Bots (Canada) Group B: - RoboJackets (USA) - DelftMercurians (Netherlands) - Sysmic (Chile) - WarthogRobotics (Brazil) Based on that seeding, we have already updated the [official schedule](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uNMfJM_ZOfLf-vYniD9r53NEZ… to represent the two groups and also added the Div A match groupings.. Referee Quiz To be allowed to fill in one of the impartial roles (assistant / main Referee, Game Controller Operator, Vision expert) during the official matches, you need to complete this year's referee quiz before the first competition day: https://forms.gle/J89PC24xrYohL8Xe9 Since all teams will need to take turns in filling in the impartial roles, if not at least two members of your team completed the quiz, your team can be excluded from the competition. Communication For the textbased communication during the RoboCup we will be using the [ssl mailing list](https://lists.robocup.org/mm/lists/robocup-small.lists.robocup.org/), as well as the [SSL discord](https://discord.gg/t724m8c) server. Especially for fast paced announcements from us, but also for communicating with the other teams the discord server is quite crucial. Therefore in case from your team not multiple, or ideally all, members joined both communication lines yet, please consider to do so. This helps us, as well as you, to be sure that you get critical information as soon as possible and in case that one team member might not read it, the others can forward the relevant information. In addition there is also an official Discord Server for the whole RoboCup, that is not just for this year's tournament, but also for other events, general exchanges during the year and more. In case you would like to join it, feel free to use this link: https://discord.gg/q4AfnY7fx6 Its goal is not to be a replacement of the SSL Discord Server but more an addition to communicate with members from other leagues and for RoboCup wide information. Colored robot hulls As you might have seen the Black and White Hulls rule got updated and is now called [Color of Robots](https://robocup-ssl.github.io/ssl-rules/sslrules.html#_color_of_robots). With this update the requirements about the size of the area changing the color got updated to accommodate smaller robots and is also a bit more relaxed with the usage of colors for differentiation. If you already implemented the Black and White Hull rule you should be fine and also compliant with it after its update. This year we will be very lenient, when validating the robots for tournament suitability, but have a look at them nonetheless, as the compliance with the rule will be part of the robot approval process from the next year on. What to bring Network: This year you will be provided with ONE ethernet plug for your team at the field, as well as ONE at your team table. Since that won’t be enough connection points for your whole team, please bring your own routers/switches. This is especially important, as personal wifis should be banned at the venue and it is yet not known to us whether there will be a public wifi. Power: Brazil uses the type N and C power plugs and outlets. Although the usual voltage used in Salvador is 127V / 60Hz, the outlets in the venue will supply 220 V / 60 Hz. Please check if your equipment supports both standards, especially the later one. In case you need more info, the local organizers have compiled all needed info on their homepage under the section [power and sockets](https://2025.robocup.org/practical-information/). General information: As some of our teams and adjacent leagues use the 2.4 GHz frequency range to control the robots, please avoid using wireless peripherals, like bluetooth headphones, mice, etc. in the same frequency range and therefore prefer to bring wired solutions. In addition to your robots you also need a machine for your central software. Since you may need to move your equipment from the competition to the practice field, a powerful laptop instead of a full size TowerPC is usually more convenient. As we need all teams to use the same color paper on top of their robots for a good calibrated vision setup, you will need to change the color paper at the venue. While we will provide you with the color paper you should bring the equipment you need to fabricate the round blobs as well as to change them inside your hull. If you have any open questions, feel free to reach out to the OC/TC, See you in Salvador! David, on behalf of the SSL committee

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