*RoboCup Rescue Simulation Virtual Robot Competitions 2023* *Bordeaux * *, France**July 04-10, 2023*

https://robocup-rsvrl.github.io/

https://www.robocup.org/leagues/27https://2023.robocup.org

*IMPORTANT DATES*

Team Qualification Materials Submission Deadline..: March 20, 2023 (23:55 GMT)

Qualified Teams Announcement…………....................…: March 31, 2023

Team registration deadline…….………….......................…: May 31, 2023

Camera-ready TDP submission………....................….….: June 9, 2023

If you are interested or considering participating please take the time to fill the RoboCup 2023 Virtual Robot Competition - intent letter form https://forms.gle/f5wispMSi5VnfnYUA as soon as possible, so that we can inform you about the latest developments and updates.

*(1) RoboCup Rescue Simulation League and Virtual Robot Competition*

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The RoboCup Rescue Simulation League is a socially relevant part of the RoboCup event. Its main purpose is to provide emergency decision support by integration of disaster information, prediction, planning, and human interface.

A generic urban disaster simulation environment is constructed on network computers. Heterogeneous intelligent agents such as firefighters, commanders, victims, volunteers, etc. conduct search and rescue activities in this virtual disaster world. Agents can sense their environment and make decisions on the basis of the perceived data. Mission-critical human interfaces support disaster managers, disaster relief brigades, residents, and volunteers to decide their actions to minimize the disaster damage.

Addressing this problem involves advanced and interdisciplinary research themes. AI/robotics research, for example, behavior strategy (e.g., multi-agent planning, real-time/anytime planning, heterogeneity of agents, robust planning, mixed-initiative planning) is a challenging problem. For disaster researchers, RoboCup Rescue works as a standard basis in order to develop practical comprehensive simulators adding necessary disaster modules.

The Virtual Robot Competition is based on ROS/Gazebo, an advanced robot simulator in which users can simulate multiple agents whose capabilities closely mirror those of real robots. ROS/Gazebo currently features several ground and air robots, as well as a wide range of sensors and actuators. Moreover, by exploiting ROS, users can easily develop their robot systems integrating standard modules.

Currently addressed research topics include but are not limited to

- Human-robot interfaces - Autonomous navigation - Sensor fusion - Image processing - Speech processing - 2D and 3D mapping - Distributed planning - Distributed learning

*(2) Major changes to this year (2023)*

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Last year, we had a server migration to ROS2 bringing a great opportunity for roboticists to learn ROS2 in a tested environment via challenges. This new server could be accessed on "The Construct sim https://www.theconstructsim.com/" as this league will provide the remote participation option.

*(3) Intention of participation*

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If you are interested or considering participating please take the time to fill the RoboCup 2023 Virtual Robot Competition - intent letter form https://forms.gle/f5wispMSi5VnfnYUA as soon as possible, so that we can inform you about the latest developments and updates.

*(4) Qualification material*

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Besides sending the intention of participation, please prepare before Mar 20, 2023, a Team Description Paper describing the most innovative contributions or scientific results your team is intended to provide.

The TDP is limited to 8 pages and must be formatted according to the LNCS format:

http://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guid... https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1615825099001000&usg=AOvVaw36Sf67SZI1XkQ3LYpnZ9ES

And the tex template file of the TDP can be found on the overleaf:

https://www.overleaf.com/read/nrcfnpygskyx https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.overleaf.com/read/nrcfnpygskyx&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1615825099002000&usg=AOvVaw3nRbxB5YWLLoYKh33dP4NJ

The Team Description Paper is an overview of the methodologies you use or intend to use to control your robots inside the Virtual Robot Competition. If applicable, include a reference to your latest publications.

The qualification material should be placed on a dedicated web page on the team’s home page.

Please include the link to the qualification material on the intention of participation information.

*(5) Useful links*

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- Virtual Robot Competition 2023 Rule (draft) https://docs.google.com/document/d/13an-jYeI0ybWrIkIHKim3FOXokRhgAZ3l1ZOVh2fDvI/edit?usp=sharing - Virtual Robot Competition Wiki https://robocup-rsvrl.github.io/ - Virtual Robot Competition 2022 Server https://github.com/RoboCup-RSVRL/RoboCup2022RVRL_Demo - Official RoboCup Rescue Simulation website https://rescuesim.robocup.org/

Kind regards, Amirreza Kabiri on behalf of RoboCup Rescue Simulation Executive, Technical, and Organizing Committees