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What is RoboCup?
RoboCupTM is an international research and education initiative. Its goal is to foster artificial intelligence and robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can be examined and integrated.
The concept of soccer-playing robots was first introduced in 1993. Following a two-year feasibility study, in August 1995, an announcement was made on the introduction of the first international conferences and football games. In July 1997, the first official conference and games were held in Nagoya, Japan. Followed by Paris, Stockholm, Melbourne and Seattle where the annual events attracted many participants and spectators. The 6th RoboCup 2002 was held in Fukuoka, Japan in cooperation with Busan, Korea, while the 7th edition in 2003 took place in Padua, Italy. In 2004 in Lisbon, Portugal. 2005 in Osaka, Japan, 2006 in Bremen, Germany, 2007 in Atlanta, USA, and and now in Suzhou, China. The events were covered by national and international media all over the world.
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RoboCupSoccer
The main focus of the RoboCup activities is competitive football. The games are important opportunities for researchers to exchange technical information. They also serve as a great opportunity to educate and entertain the public. RoboCupSoccer is divided into the following leagues: |
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Simulation league
Independently moving software players (agents) play soccer on a virtual field inside a computer. This is one of the oldest fleet in RoboCupSoccer. There are subleagues: 2D, 3D, 3D development and Mixed Reality (formerly called Visualization). Mixed Reality subleague is using thumb-size robots (Eco-be system) bridging between simulation and physical robots.. |
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Small-size robot league
Small robots of no more than 18 cm in diameter play soccer with an orange golf ball in teams of up to 5 robots on a field with the size of 6.5m x 4.5m. Matches have 10-minute halves.
This league focuses on the issues of multi-agent cooperation with a hybrid centralized/distributed system. |
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Middle-size robot league
Middle-sized robots of no more than 50 cm diameter play soccer in teams of up to 6 robots with an orange soccer ball on a field the size of 12x18 metres. Matches are divided in 15-minute halves. All sensors are on-board. Robots can use wireless networking to communicate. |
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Standard Platform league
The Standard Platform League replaces the highly successfull Four-Legged League. In the league all teams use identical (i.e. standard) robots. Therefore the teams concentrate on software development only, while still using state-of-the-art robots. The robots operate fully autonomously, i.e. there is no external control, neither by humans nor by computers. This year, the league goes through a transition from the four-legged Sony AIBO to the humanoid Aldebaran Nao by offering two subleagues. |
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Humanoid league
This league was introduced in 2002. Biped autonomous humanoid robots play in matches as well as "Technical Challenges". This league has two subcategories: Kid-size and Teen-size. |
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RoboCupRescue
Disaster rescue is one of the most serious issues involving very large numbers of heterogeneous agents in a hostile environment. The intention of the RoboCupRescue project is to promote research and development in this significant domain by involving multi-agent team work coordination, physical robotic agents for search and rescue, information infrastructures, personal digital assistants, standard simulator and decision support systems, evaluation benchmarks for rescue strategies and robotic systems that are all integrated into a comprehensive system in future. RoboCupRescue is divided into two leagues. |
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RoboCupRescue Robot League
Robots explore a specially constructed disaster site, including mannequins with various signs of life, such as waving hands, shouting noises and heat, hidden amongst stairs, platforms and building rubble. The robots, some under human control, must find and approach the victims, identify their signs of life and produce a map of the site showing where the victims are located. The aim is to provide human rescuers with enough information to safely perform a rescue. Each team is scored based on the quality of its maps, the accuracy of the victim information and the number of victims found. |
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RoboCupRescue Simulation League
The league is composed of three competitions: the virtual robot competition, the agent competition, and the infrastructure competition.
In a virtual robot competition run, a team of simulated robots has to explore, map and clear a block-sized disaster area, featuring both carefully modeled indoor / outdoor environments. Robots and sensors used in this competition closely mirror platform and devices currently used in physical robots.
The Agent competition involves scoring competing agent coordination algorithms on different maps of the RobocupRescue simulation platform. The challenge in this case involves developing coordination algorithms that will enable teams of Ambulances, Police forces, and Fire Brigades to save as many civilians as possible and extinguish fires in a city where an earthquake has just happened.
The Infrastructure competition involves evaluating tools and simulators developed for the simulation platform and for simulating disaster management problems in general. Here, the intent is to build up realistic simulators and tools that could be used to enhance the basic RobocupRescue simulator and expand upon it. |
| RoboCup@Home |
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RoboCup@Home focuses on real-world applications and human-machine interaction with autonomous robots. The aim is to promote the development of robots that will aid humans in everyday life.
The scenario involves the home itself. Participants are given an environment that involves a kitchen, a living room, and possibly more. Contestants then demonstrate their robots' abilities in this environment.
The first demonstration was held in 2007 Bremen. |
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RoboCupJunior
RoboCupJunior is a project-oriented educational initiative that sponsors local, regional and international robotic events for young students. It is designed to introduce RoboCup to primary and secondary school children, as well as undergraduates who do not have the resources to get involved in the senior leagues yet. The focus of the Junior league lies on education. The tournament offers to the participants the chance to take part in international exchange programmes and to share the experience of meeting peers from abroad. |
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RoboCup Junior offers several challenges, each emphasizing both cooperative and competitive aspects. For young students, RoboCupJunior provides an exciting introduction to the field of robotics, a new way to develop technical abilities through hands-on experience with electronics, hardware and software, and a highly motivating opportunity to learn about teamwork while sharing technology with friends. In contrast to the one-child-one-computer scenario typically seen today, RoboCupJunior provides a unique opportunity for participants with a variety of interests and strengths to work together as a team to achieve a common goal.
- Soccer Challenge
- Dance Challenge
- Rescue Challenge
- GenII demonstration
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 For more details |
check the Overview section. |
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Download |
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RoboCup Leaflet
in PDF format 1.8MB
2005 version |
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