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Deadline for Pre-Application Approaching - RoboCup 2026 Humanoid Soccer League Competition
by Reinaldo A. C. Bianchi 09 Jan '26

09 Jan '26

Deadline for Pre-application Approaching - January 10th Summary: Deadline for pre-Application is on January 10th. For pre-application the team should submit the team name, home page, team leader name and email and inform in which Division and with how many robots the team intent to participate in Incheon. 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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[jobs] Professorship (W3) for Interactive Robotics at Bielefeld University
by Sven Wachsmuth 06 Jan '26

06 Jan '26

Dear all, The Faculty of Technology at Bielefeld University has an opening for a permament *professorship (W3) for Interactive Robtics*, with a special focus on robotics engineering for real-time sensory perception, physical motion, learning and action control for autonomous, interactive robots. The *application deadline is Febuary 28, 2026.* Detailed information about the position can be found at: https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/uni/karriere/professuren/wiss3086_englisch.xml Best regards Sven -- PD Dr.-Ing. Sven Wachsmuth Faculty of Technology | CITEC COSY@Home-Lab Bielefeld University

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Call for Participation: RoboCup2026 Middle Size League
by 刘斐 04 Jan '26

04 Jan '26

Call for Participation  RoboCup 2026 Middle Size League June 30 to July 6, 2026 (Incheon, South-Korea) https://2026.robocup.org We would like to invite all MSL teams to participate in the 2026 RoboCup MSL World Championships. If you are interested to participate, please take the time to pre-register your team for the RoboCup 2026 MSL competitions.  1)    Pre-registration  For the pre-registration please send an e-mail to rc-msl-oc(a)lists.robocup.org and liufei(a)caa.org.cn containing the following data: ·   Team name ·   URL of the team’s home page ·   Name of the team leader ·   E-mail address of team or team leader ·   Affiliation ·   Country ·   Link to the qualification materials  Please send more information about teams to introduce them better on MSL website(https://msl.robocup.org/teams). Sending following information would be optional: ·   Logo ·   Profile (Describe team with at most 150 words). ·   Most research topics (up to 6 topics)   2)    Qualification materials  Please note that, according to the rules, the evaluation of some parts of the qualification materials will contribute to the scientific challenge final result.  By the time of pre-registration, please have ready the following qualification materials:  a)    A Team Description Paper describing the most innovative contributions or scientific results (the TDP is limited to 8 pages and must be formatted according to the LNCS format: http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0). b)    A list of 5 scientiﬁc papers published during the last 5 years of the team which are related to RoboCup. Abstracts of these papers and a complete reference to each paper must also be submitted. When more papers are submitted, only the first 5 will be considered. c)    A list of results and awards obtained by the team in the last 3 years. d)    A video showing the capabilities of the team’s robots (the maximum duration of the video is 60 seconds; if the submitted video is longer than 60 seconds, only the first 60 seconds will be considered for evaluation). e)    A list of contributions of the team to the RoboCup MSL community. f)     Declaration if the team will be part of a mixed team. g)    A mechanical and electrical description together with a software flow chart. h)   List of MAC Addresses used by the team, with explicit indication of those that will be used for wireless communication and their type: robots or development computers. All other MAC addresses will be blocked. (Modifications are allowed before the competition, no later than June 23, 2026.) i)    List of size and weight of the robots (If there are many different robots, please give the data for each type separately. Modifications are allowed before the competition, no later than June 23, 2026.): Dimensions: Length*Width*Height(cm) Weight: (kg)  For being able to participate in the RoboCup competition, teams have to ensure, at least, the minimum cumulative following criteria: ·   Demonstrate in the video that they are able to perform the basic actions to be able to play. ·   Produce a Team Description Paper (TDP) according to the above definition. ·   Obtain a minimum of 50 points in the overall qualification procedure.  The details regarding the qualification materials are contained in the rules and regulations document available at https://msl.robocup.org. Please read it thoroughly.  The qualification materials should be placed in a dedicated page of the team's web page. Please include the link to the qualification materials in the pre-registration information. 3)    Important dates  ·   Deadline for pre-registration and submission of the qualification materials: February 28, 2026 ·   Announcement of qualified teams: March 15, 2026  4)    Rules  The MSL Technical Committee will not publish new rules for 2026, therefore the rules from 2025 (version 26.0) will be used. These rules are available at: https://msl.robocup.org/rules    5)    Publication  Please note that after the announcement of the qualified teams the qualification materials of the qualified teams will be made publicly available. Therefore, teams applying for participation, grant the right of publication of their qualification materials to the MSL league(MAC addresses are an exception and should remain private).   6)    Plagiarism  Plagiarism, loosely the unattributed use of other peoples' words, code and ideas (see “https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/plagiarism/plagiarism.html” for a more detailed description) is not tolerated in the RoboCup community.  The teams and team members that plagiarize other peoples' work and present it as their own will be disqualified. For a first offense, the team and team members will be banned from RoboCup competition for two years (usually the current and next year). Harsher penalties will be applied to repeat offenders or extremely serious cases of plagiarism. A team may be disqualified at any time for plagiarism, even after the competition has started. RoboCup will not reimburse teams for any expenses related to their disqualification.   The 2026 MSL Organizing and Technical Committees Fei Liu OC Chair, Middle Size League, RoboCup 2026  

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[jobs] The RobotiXX lab at GMU is hiring postdoctoral researchers
by Xuesu Xiao 03 Jan '26

03 Jan '26

Dear roboticists, the RobotiXX lab (https://robotixx.cs.gmu.edu/) at the Department of Computer Science, George Mason University in the Washington D.C. area is looking for postdoctoral researchers. The positions can start anytime from now and are expected to last one year, with possible renewal pending funding availability. At RobotiXX lab, we perform robotics research at the intersection of motion planning and machine learning, with a specific focus on deployable field robotics. A few of our recent focuses include, but are not limited to, off-road mobility and autonomy, social robot navigation, multi-robot coordination, vision-based navigation, self-supervised learning for robotics, task and motion planning, as well as human robot interaction. Candidates with relevant experience in robotics, motion planning, and machine learning are encouraged to apply. Hands-on knowledge in robotics hardware, field experience, and a good publication record is strongly preferred. The RobotiXX lab recently moved into a brand new, $254 million Fuse building in the heart of Arlington, VA (https://masonsquare.gmu.edu/fuse). The lab is 15-minute walk from DARPA and ONR and 20-minute drive from NSF, which provides good networking opportunities with federal program managers for future faculty remembers. The new 6,000 sqft lab features a two-floor, high-bay space with full motion capture coverage (2,533 sqft), a state-of-the-art robot maker space with ~$1 million fabrication equipment (1299 sqft), and a robot assembly / computer cluster room with GPU workstations dedicated to the lab's use (1,681 sqft). Fuse is also the home to many tech companies, fostering academia-industry collaboration right across the hallway from the lab (https://fuseatmasonsquare.com/). The selected candidates will conduct independent research to develop highly capable and intelligent mobile robots that are robustly deployable in the real world with minimal human supervision, publish papers in top-tier robotics conferences and journals, and advise graduate and undergraduate students in the RobotiXX lab. To apply, please send a single PDF of the following documents to Dr. Xuesu Xiao, Assistant Professor (xiao(a)gmu.edu): 1. cover letter, 2. curriculum vitae, 3. three references, 4. relevant publications, 5. other relevant materials, with the subject line “[postdoc] YOUR AFFILIATION - YOUR NAME”. For more information, please see the lab’s website (https://robotixx.cs.gmu.edu/), research statement (https://cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/xuesu_website_files/Research_Statement.pdf), and YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCePdJzWg35eml4WRGkX3GQ). Thanks Xuesu ----------------------- Xuesu Xiao, Ph.D. -- Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science George Mason University xiao(a)gmu.edu https://people.cs.gmu.edu/~xiao/ https://robotixx.cs.gmu.edu/

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WCCI-IJCNN 2026 Special Session: #SS2, "Remote Sensing and Hyperspectral Image Classification"
by Pub Conference 03 Jan '26

03 Jan '26

Dear Colleagues, We are organizing a Special Session for WCCI-IJCNN 2026 on papers related to remote sensing and hyperspectral imaging. The prestigious conference will be held in Maastricht, the Netherlands, from June 21-26, 2026. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: - Semantic Segmentation of Remote Sensing Images - SAR Image Segmentation - Hyperspectral Image Classification - Graph Learning - Machine Learning and Deep Learning - Applications of Hyperspectral Image Classification All accepted papers will be included in the WCCI 2026 proceedings, which will be published in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library. The submission portal is: https://ssl.linklings.net/conferences/WCCI/. Please select *“IJCNN SS02: Advances in Machine Learning and Deep Learning for Hyperspectral Image Classification.”* *Submission deadline:* January 31, 2026 (no extensions will be granted).

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Special Session "MLDL-HIC" at WCCI 2026 - Maastricht, Netherlands
by Pub Conference 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

Dear Colleague, We are organizing a Special Session for the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN 2026) entitled *“Advances in Machine Learning and Deep Learning for Hyperspectral Image Classification,”* which is part of the IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (WCCI) 2026, to be held in Maastricht, the Netherlands, June 21–26, 2026. The objective of this special session is to bring together researchers and practitioners in machine learning, deep learning, and remote sensing to share novel computational approaches for hyperspectral image classification. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: · Remote Sensing Applications of Hyperspectral Imaging · Hyperspectral Imaging for Advanced Remote Sensing Techniques · Deep Learning Architectures for Hyperspectral Image Classification · Transfer Learning for Hyperspectral Image Classification · Unsupervised and Semi-Supervised Learning Methods · Data Augmentation and Synthetic Data Generation for Hyperspectral Data · Multisource and Multimodal Data Fusion · Explainability and Interpretability in Hyperspectral Image Classification · Advanced Feature Extraction Techniques · Adversarial Attacks and Robustness in Hyperspectral Image Classification · Real-Time Hyperspectral Image Classification · Applications of Hyperspectral Image Classification · Benchmarking and Evaluation of Deep Learning Models · Hybrid and Ensemble Models for Hyperspectral Classification · Hyperparameter Tuning and Optimization Techniques · Challenges and Future Directions in Hyperspectral Image Classification Details about the session can be found here: https://sites.google.com/view/wcci2026/home Information on papers submission can be found here: https://attend.ieee.org/wcci-2026/information-for-authors/ <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fattend.ie…> All accepted papers will be included in the WCCI 2026 proceedings, published on the IEEE Xplore Digital Library. The deadline for the submission of papers is approaching: January 31, 2026, 23:59 AoE time (no extension will be given, see Important Dates <https://attend.ieee.org/wcci-2026/important-dates-deadlines/>) For any additional inquiries, please feel free to contact us. Best regards, Nian Ashlee Zhang, University of the District of Columbia, USA Man-Fai Leung, Anglia Ruskin University, U.K. Feng Xia, RMIT University, Australia Donald C. Wunsch II, Missouri University of Science and Technology, USA

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RoboCup 2026 Small Size League Call for Participation
by Emy Ganzeboom 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

Dear RoboCup community, The Small Size League committee is glad to invite you to participate in the RoboCup 2026! Below you can find important information about the competition and qualification. Location and dates RoboCup Incheon, South-Korea, 2026 Small Size League June 30 - July 6, 2026 Website: TBA About RoboCup RoboCup is an international scientific initiative with the goal to advance the state of the art of autonomous robots. When established in 1997, the original mission was to field a team of robots capable of winning against the human soccer World Cup champions by 2050. About the Small Size League The RoboCup Small Size League is a part of the RoboCup Research Federation focused on multi-agent coordination and control. Teams currently compete in 11 vs. 11 soccer matches (6 vs. 6 in Div. B). The robots must fit within an 18 cm diameter circle and must be no higher than 15 cm. The robots play soccer with an orange golf ball on a green carpeted field that is 12 m long by 9 m wide (9 m long by 6 m wide for Div. B.). About the qualification To qualify for the competition, each team must submit a Team Description Paper and a video by January 27, 2026. More information on the qualification requirements and processes are located on the website <https://ssl.robocup.org/robocups/robocup-2026/robocup-2026-qualification/>. More information on slot allocation will follow soon. Please direct all inquiries to the Small Size League Organizing Committee: rc-ssl-oc(a)lists.robocup.org Thank you!

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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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[ASI 2026] CfP: The 7th International Workshop on Agents for Societal Impact at AAMAS 2026
by Panayiotis Danassis 18 Dec '25

18 Dec '25

[Apologies for Cross-Posting. Please share with colleagues and students.] *Call for Papers** **The *7th International Workshop on Agents for Societal Impact *ASI 2026* Paphos, Cyprus. 25 - 26 May 2026. https://panosd.eu/asi2026/ in conjunction with the 25th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems AAMAS 2026 https://cyprusconferences.org/aamas2026/ ~ ~ ~ *TLDR** **=====* ASI 2026 focuses on the design, analysis, and deployment of intelligent agents that contribute positively to society. As AI agents become increasingly autonomous and embedded in real-world systems, it is critical to ensure that their behavior aligns with human values and societal goals, rather than optimizing narrowly defined technical objectives. The workshop provides a forum to discuss how agent-based technologies can be responsibly applied to real-world societal systems. *IMPORTANT DATES** **================* *Submission deadline: *Feb 11, 2026 (AoE) Author notification: Mar 20, 2026 Workshop tentative date: May 25–26, 2026 *TOPICS OF INTEREST** **=================* We are interested in a broad range of research topics, both foundational and applied. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: * *Public health and healthcare* * *Education* * *Climate, sustainability, conservation* * *Transportation and mobility* * *Public infrastructure, smart cities, smart grids* * *Supply chains and logistics* * *Emergency response and disaster management* * *Agriculture and food systems* * *Labor markets and the future of work* * *Housing and land-use planning* * *Ethics, fairness, and discrimination* * *Online information integrity and misinformation* * *Security and cybersecurity* * *Governance, policy design, and decision support* Societal impact cannot be achieved through algorithmic optimization alone. Progress requires an integrated perspective that connects agent engineering (how agents are built), computational social science (how social systems are modeled and studied), and human agent interaction (how agents work with people). Therefore, we welcome researchers working on agents and society across AI, empirical social science, and public policy. *ABOUT ASI 2026** **================* We invite papers (work-in-progress, or published works with interesting novelty) in two categories: 1. *Research papers* describing novel contributions using multi-agent systems in societal challenges. Both work-in-progress and recently published work will be considered. Submissions describing recently published work should clearly indicate the earlier venue and provide a link to the published paper. Papers in this category should be at most *6-8 pages* (in AAMAS format), with any number of additional pages containing bibliographic references only. 2. *Position papers* describing open problems or neglected perspectives in the field, proposing ideas for bringing MAS methods into a new application area, or summarizing the focus areas of a group working on MAS for societal challenges. Papers in this category should be at most *4 pages* (in AAMAS format), with any number of additional pages containing bibliographic references only. The submitted papers will be assessed based on their novelty, technical quality, potential impact, and clarity of writing. *Collaboration with NGOs and society stakeholders that have first-hand knowledge of the topic will be especially appreciated.* Please note that at least one author must register for the workshop and attend in person. This workshop has no archival proceedings, and the accepted papers are allowed to be submitted to other conference venues. Accepted submissions will have the option of being posted online on the workshop website. For authors who do not wish their papers to be posted online, please inform the organizers. We also welcome papers accepted at other venues to facilitate discussion. *ORGANIZING COMMITTEE** **======================* Panayiotis Danassis <https://panosd.eu/> (University of Southampton, UK) Aparna Taneja <https://research.google/people/106890/> (Google DeepMind, India) Lingkai Kong <https://lingkai-kong.com/> (Harvard University, USA) We look forward to receiving your submissions, The organizers

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Update on RoboCup Humanoid Robot Program
by Ubbo Visser 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

Dear RoboCuppers, We are happy to share an update on our “RoboCup Humanoid Robot Program” with you. We have reached new agreements with Unitree and Booster, which will update the conditions and prices for existing platforms and introduce new ones. Booster will be adding the K1 RoboCup Edition, while Unitree will be adding the R1 robot to its portfolio. For more details on the updated prices and options, please visit our website: https://robotprogram.robocup.org/ We have streamlined the application process. Existing Soccer RoboCup teams (including soccer simulation) can now directly order the robots from the companies. New RoboCup teams will need to apply through our program. To apply, simply open the website, scroll down to the bottom, and click on the ‘Apply’ button. We are also excited to announce that Booster will be providing a pool of robots for RoboCup 2026. Here are the details: - For teams that bring 2 K1 robots, they will be eligible to receive up to 3 robots from the pool (we will have a total of 12 K1s available). - For teams that bring 1 T1 robot, they will be eligible to receive up to 2 robots from the pool (we will have a total of 8 T1s available). The Federation is currently in discussions with other manufacturers to establish similar conditions for future competitions. Best regards, Ubbo Visser President of the RoboCup Federation

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