Call for proposals: RCF and MathWorks Support for Research Projects 2022

The RoboCup Federation (RCF) and MathWorks, a Global Sponsor of RoboCup, are pleased to announce this call for proposals to support research projects in RoboCup.

RCF-MathWorks Support for Research Projects 2022 aims at funding robotics research projects that use MATLAB and Simulink software. The goal is to enable collaboration between RoboCup researchers and MathWorks engineers to foster progress of RoboCup and its leagues.

The RoboCup Federation and MathWorks hosted a webinar to discuss the details of the call, describe expected results and MathWorks tools, showcase previously sponsored projects, and answer questions.

Link to the webinar: https://youtu.be/znZSFBWAWhg

For more info or clarification on the details of this call, please contact i**o@robocup.org

Proposal Requirements

Proposals in this category must meet *ALL* of the following requirements:

1. Work must be associated with one or more of the research topics listed below.

2. Work must primarily utilize MathWorks software such as MATLAB, Simulink, Stateflow, and other add-on products. Preference may be given if using one or more of the development methods listed below.

3. Project team will be assigned MathWorks contacts, and must arrange and participate in at least 3 progress check-in meetings with them during the course of the project. The team is encouraged to reach out to their MathWorks contacts whenever they have questions.

4. Final deliverables shall be posted publicly after review by MathWorks contacts.

Research Topics

1. Navigation and Planning   a. Motion Planning for Manipulators and Mobile Robots   b. Motion planning for humanoid robots   c. Collision avoidance

2. Perception and Sensor Fusion   a. Object detection and tracking   b. Lidar and vision-based SLAM   c. Point cloud processing   d. Fusing IMU with other sensors for localization and state estimation

3. Control systems   a. Control of humanoid robots   b. Hybrid systems and behavior   c. Multi-agent systems   d. Robot Manipulation and Grasping

4. Human-Robot Interaction   a. Natural language processing   b. Signal and audio processing

NOTE: teams are encouraged to apply machine learning techniques (deep learning, reinforcement learning, etc.) toward these research topics

Development Methods

1. Development Tools   a. User interfaces and Web applications   b. Hardware initialization and calibration tools

2. Modeling and simulation   a. Model-based design of software components   b. Physical system simulation and design   c. Behavior modeling: finite-state machines, behavior trees, etc.   d. Multi-agent simulation

3. Embedded systems   a. Implementation to reduce memory, power consumption, etc.   b. Targeting microcontrollers, FPGAs, and GPUs   c. Real-time and hardware-in-the-loop simulation

4. Interfaces to standard platforms   a. Robots, e.g., Toyota, SoftBank, FESTO   b. Software frameworks, e.g., ROS

Support

Support will be given as a gift between 5,000 and 10,000 USD depending on quantity and quality of accepted proposals in this category.

Teams will be notified of the exact amount awarded upon their proposal being accepted. Funding will be provided directly by RCF after the RoboCup Symposium 2022 if the research and deliverables are completed in a satisfactory manner.

Submission

A single PDF file should be submitted through the easychair system https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rcfsupport2022 under the Category: RCF and MathWorks Support for Research Projects 2022

The proposal (MAX 6 pages) must include:

1. description of the project, 2. motivations and goals, 3. intended use of MATLAB and/or Simulink software, 4. benefits for RoboCup and for the RoboCup League (not for a single or a few teams), 5. implementation plan and budget.

Evaluation

Application materials will be evaluated by a committee of RoboCup Trustees and MathWorks engineers. The evaluation of the proposals will be based on (i) the quality of the proposed research; (ii) the research contributions of the applicants, particularly in relation to RoboCup; (iii) the usage of MATLAB and/or Simulink software; and (iv) the impact of the proposed plan on the advancement and visibility of RoboCup.

A limited number of awards is expected to be assigned.

Deadlines

Submission Deadline:   February 6th, 2022

Notification:   February 8th, 2022

Completion of the action: Preliminary work expected to be presented during the RoboCup 2022 Research Symposium, and official content publication by October 2022

Exceptions to this rule must be submitted for approval to the evaluation committee.

** For more information about the call for projects, please contact: info [at] robocup.org **