[robocup-humanoid] Summary of rule discussions in Mexico

[Daniel Seifert]

Dear humanoid teams,

on behalf of the Technical Committee, please find below a short
summary on the rule discussions and votes held in the team leader
meetings at RoboCup 2012 in Mexico City.


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Suggestion: Change of goal color

Change from blue/yellow goal to either two goals of same color or with
additional markings/patterns or black/white patterned goals

Vote:
- uniform/solid coloured identical goals - 21 votes
- coloured goals with distinguishing patterns - 5 votes
- black/white goals with patterns - 2 votes


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Suggestion: Larger field for KidSize and more robots.

Concerns:
- more robots are more expensive
- more difficult to maintain
- more difficult to control (falling down, etc)
- in case of larger field we possibly have less fields due to space constraints

Vote:
- 5vs5 on TeenSize field - 0 votes
- 4vs4 on KidSize field - 10 votes
- 4vs4 on TeenSize field - 11 votes
- opposed/abstained - 0


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Suggestion: More players in TeenSize, have 3vs3 games

Concerns were raised that we do not have enough teams right now and
the number of players is not the most important right now. Suggestion
not carried.

Maybe have 3vs3 games with mixed teams instead.


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Suggestion: Have 2vs2 actual soccer matches in Adultsize

Concerns that this would be too expensive. Suggestion not carried.


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Question was raised in TeenSize whether a robot handler who enters the
field to catch an apparently instable/falling robot but does not touch
it (if it stabilizes on its own) is allowed to leave the field without
the robot.

Vote:
- yes - 0 votes
- no (must pick-up robot) - 3 votes


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Considering the usual WiFi problems at the venue, discussions were
held regarding how to minimize this issue in the next year(s).

Possible approaches:
- reduction of bandwidth/team to 500kbit/s
- using 5 GHz band
- hidden ESSID
- using a WEP-Key so visitors can not accidentially connect to AP
(majority of teams indicated that their robots support WEP)
- using a WEP-Key per game to minimize interference with other teams
still connected to this field


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Suggestion: Adjust the throw-in challenge to be more realistic, as it
is not the goal to throw the ball really far (potentially outside the
field) during a normal match, but instead throw it accurately, maybe
close to an obstacle pole or possibly another player that will have to
score. The latter was rejected as the AdultSize teams only have one
robot, also teams with better strikers would be at an advantage that
does not reflect the throw-in ability.

Proposed rule change: Throw the ball for accuracy towards a black pole
positioned randomly by referee in a defined distance (e.g. 2m +/-
0.5m) and measure air gap between ball's final position and the
obstacle.

Vote:
- in favor - 19 votes
- opposed - 0 votes
- abstained - 1


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Suggestion: In AdultSize dribbling challenge have the referee place an
obstacle in the path between the penalty mark and the goal area.

Vote:
- yes - 5 votes
- no - 0 votes
- abstains - 0



--
dseifert at fumanoids.de
Phone +49 30 838 75-117 (Office), -125 (Lab)

Freie Universität Berlin
Institut für Informatik
AG Intelligente Systeme und Robotik
Arnimallee 7
14195 Berlin
Germany