Humanoid League
Contents |
League Overview
In the Humanoid League, autonomous robots with a human-like body plan and human-like senses play soccer against each other. Unlike humanoid robots outside the Humanoid League the task of perception and world modeling is not simplified by using non-human like range sensors. In addition to soccer competitions technical challenges take place. Dynamic walking, running, and kicking the ball while maintaining balance, visual perception of the ball, other players, and the field, self-localization, and team play are among the many research issues investigated in the Humanoid League. Several of the best autonomous humanoid robots in the world compete in the RoboCup Humanoid League.
The robots are divided into three size classes: KidSize (30-60cm height), TeenSize (100-120cm) and AdultSize (130cm and taller). In the KidSize soccer competition teams of three, highly dynamic autonomous robots compete with each other. Since 2010 the TeenSize soccer competition features teams of two autonomous robots competing with each other. In AdultSize soccer, a striker robot plays against a goal keeper robot first and then the same robots play with exchanged roles against each other.
Since the establishment of the Humanoid League in 2002, every year it awards the Louis Vuitton Best Humanoid Award.
For more information please visit the home page of the humanoid leage at http://www.tzi.de/humanoid
How To Participate
To participate in a RoboCup event, like one of the several local Open competitions or the annual RoboCup world championship, you just need to follow the respective call for particpation of each event and to apply with the required documents within the respective time frame. A (non exclusive) list of events related to the humanoid league is available at: http://www.tzi.de/humanoid/bin/view/Website/Events.
For new coming teams it is recommended to participate in a local open competition first, if possible. It is not a must but it certainly helps a lot to develop a competitive team.
If you intend to participate on this year's World Championship please visit the Call for Participation at: http://www.tzi.de/humanoid/bin/view/Website/Call2013.
Organization
Contact information for all committee members in 2012 can be found at http://www.tzi.de/humanoid/bin/view/Website/Committees2013.
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee members are responsible for the long term goals of the league and represent the Humanoid League within the general RoboCup community as well as to the RoboCup federation. The Executive Committee presents the league and its achievements to the RoboCup federation every year and gets feedback to organize the league. All committee members are also members of the Technical Committee. Executive Committee members are elected by the board of trustees of the RoboCup federation; they serve 3-year terms.
- Jacky Baltes (Canada), 2nd term, until 2014
- Luis F. Lupian (Mexico), 1st term, until 2013
- Sven Behnke (Germany), 1st term, until 2014
- Carlos Acosta (Singapore), 1st Term, until 2015
Technical Committee
The Technical Committee (TC) is responsible for technical issues of the league along with the Executive Committee members listed above. The TC members are elected annually by the leaders of the teams participating in the RoboCup Humanoid League. The current TC members are
- Daniel Seifert (Germany)
- Pieter van Zutven (The Netherlands)
- Marcell Missura (Germany)
Organizing Committee
The Organizing Committee (OC) is appointed for each, annual RoboCup competition and responsible for the organization of the annual competitions in the Humanoid League. Its current members are:
- Chair: Jacky Baltes (Canada)
- Local Chair: Pieter van Zutven (The Netherlands)
- Carlos Acosta (Singapore)
- Reinhard Gerndt (Germany)
- Soroush Sadeghnejad (Iran)
Rules
The rules of the RoboCup Humanoid League are evolved on a yearly schedule. During the annual RoboCup competition, which is usually held in June or July, the team leaders of the teams in the humanoid league meet and discuss the general outline of the rule development for the following year. Later on the discussion is continued over the humanoid league's mailing list http://lists.cc.gatech.edu/pipermail/robocup-humanoid/. The final, annual update of the rules is then published at http://www.tzi.de/humanoid.
Teams
Information about teams that are or have been participating in the RoboCup Humanoid League is available at http://www.tzi.de/humanoid/.
RoboCup Events
All Events
A list of recent and previous events related to the RoboCup Humanoid League is available at http://www.tzi.de/humanoid/bin/view/Website/Events.
RoboCup 2013 Information
- General information: http://www.robocup2013.org/
- The call for participation in RoboCup 2013 Humanoid League was issued in November 2012 at http://www.tzi.de/humanoid and https://lists.cc.gatech.edu/mailman/listinfo/robocup-humanoid
Scores of Recent RoboCup World Championships
RoboCup Champions
The Humanoid League started in 2002 and its rules and different subleagues (size classes) evolved over the years. A history of the Humanoid League is available at http://www.tzi.de/humanoid/bin/view/Website/History
| Year | Size | 1st Place Team | 2nd Place Team | 3rd Place Team | Media |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | KidSize | Team DARwIn, USA | CIT Brains, Japan | Darmstadt Dribblers, Germany | video |
| TeenSize | NimbRo TeenSize, Germany | CIT Brains, Japan | Team DARwin-XOS, USA | video | |
| AdultSize | Team CHARLI, USA | Tsinghua Hephaestus, China | JoiTech, Japan | video | |
| Best Humanoid | NimbRo, Germany (TeenSize) | - | - | ||
| 2011 | KidSize | Team DARwIn, USA | CIT Brains, Japan | Darmstadt Dribblers, Germany | video |
| TeenSize | NimbRo TeenSize, Germany | KMUTT Kickers, Thailand | AcYut4, India | video | |
| AdultSize | Team CHARLI, USA | RoboErectus Senior, Singapore | Tsinghua Hephaestus, China | video | |
| Best Humanoid | Team CHARLI, USA (AdultSize) | NimbRo, Germany (TeenSize) | Team DARwIn, USA (KidSize) | ||
| 2010 | KidSize | Darmstadt Dribblers, Germany | FUmanoids, Germany | CIT Brains Kid, Japan | video |
| TeenSize | NimbRo TeenSize, Germany | CIT Brains Teen, Japan | TsinghuaHephaestus, China | video | |
| AdultSize | Team RO-PE, Singapore | RoboErectus Senior, Singapore | Team CHARLI, USA | ||
| Best Humanoid | NimbRo TeenSize, Germany (TeenSize) | Darmstadt Dribblers, Germany (KidSize) | Team RO-PE, Singapore (AdultSize) | ||
| 2009 | KidSize | Darmstadt Dribblers, Germany | FUmanoids, Germany | CIT Brains Kid, Japan | video |
| TeenSize | NimbRo Teen, Germany | CIT Brains Teen, Japan | TsinghuaHephaestus Teen, China | video | |
| Best Humanoid | Darmstadt Dribblers, Germany (KidSize) | NimbRo Teen, Germany (TeenSize) | CIT Brains Teen, Japan (TeenSize) | ||
| 2008 | KidSize | NimbRo Kid, Germany | Team Osaka, Japan | CIT Brains Kid, Japan | |
| TeenSize | Team Osaka, Japan | TsinghuaHephaestus Teen, China | NimbRo Teen, Germany | ||
| Best Humanoid | Team Osaka, Japan (TeenSize) |
Research State of the Art
While in the first years of the Humanoid League, the robots engaged only in penalty kick competitions, since 2005 soccer games are played in KidSize class and since 2010 also in TeenSize class. The AdultSize class was introduced in 2010, where robots play a Dribble & Kick tournament. In order to gradually get closer to the RoboCup vision of 2050, over the years, the size of the field has been enlarged, color markings have been reduced and the body-plan of the robots has been getting closer to real human proportions.
Fast omnidirectional gaits with stabilizing feedback mechanisms, dynamic full-body motions, and reliable self-localization techniques have been developed in the league. As the KidSize and TeenSize robots master the basic soccer skills better, team play becomes more important. Technical highlights include the throwing-in of the ball, various kicking techniques (including high-kick), fast goalies that dive to the ground, double passes, and careful obstacle avoidance.
A list of humanoid soccer-related special issues and workshops can be found at the HL's home page http://www.tzi.de/humanoid/bin/view/Website/Achievements.
Videos
A collection of videos of the Humanoid League from recent RoboCup world championships is available at http://www.tzi.de/humanoid/bin/view/Website/ImagesVideos.
Other Information
- Humanoid League Home Page: http://www.tzi.de/humanoid/
- Humanoid League Mailing List: http://lists.cc.gatech.edu/pipermail/robocup-humanoid/
- Humanoid League Game Controller/Referee Box: http://sourceforge.net/projects/robocupgc/
