RoboCup International Competition 2004 - Lisbon, Portugal

[patrickrd]

Hi everyone,

Like last year, I will be posting updates about the international RoboCup competition. This year, the event will take place from June 27 - July 3, in Lisbon, Portugal. I will specifically focus on my team (Cornell University "Big Red") and the Small-size ("F-180") league, as that is what I am directly involved with.

RoboCup is an international non-profit organization that promotes new technologies and advancements in robotics through an annual competition and conference. The long term goal of the organization is to field by the year 2050 a fully automous robotic soccer team that can compete against the human world cup champion soccer team. At the current time, RoboCup contains 5 leagues, which each address specific aspects of playing soccer:

• Simulation league: Simulates soccer matches. Works on high level soccer strategy and individual player strategy and skills.
• Sony AIBO league: Implements soccer skills and strategy into AIBO dogs.
• Small-Size League: Makes fully autonomous miniature robots that play soccer with a golf ball. Most competitive and advanced league in RoboCup.
• Middle-Sized League: Makes larger robots that play on a larger playing field. Performance is limited due to vision restrictions.
• Humanoid League: Makes humanoid (legged) robots. Very research oriented at this time.

As I mentioned, we (Cornell) compete in the small-sized league, which contains the most exciting and high-paced games in RoboCup. We have won internationally four of the past five years, since our first year in 1999. Last year, we won internationally in Italy, and I posted updates of the 2003 competition here on Chief Delphi.

This is the 2004 thread, where I will post updates from Lisbon. In addition, I will be posting some updates about how our team is doing before we leave for Portugal, and some of the new things we are introducing. Be sure to check this thread often and wish us luck!!