[robocup-humanoid] Announcements for RoboCup 2019 Sydney

[Ludovic Hofer]

Dear RoboCuppers,

The competition is coming soon and we have prepared a small status 
update containing very important information for the teams in order to 
prepare the competition.

Please feel free to ask for clarifications if required.

See you all in Sydney,

Ludovic Hofer (on behalf of the Humanoid League Technical Committee)

Registration
----------------
There are still 6 teams out of the 36 teams qualified which have not 
registered and not informed us that they would not be able to make it.

Bear in mind that the final deadline for team registration is May 31st.

If your team cannot participate, make sure to send an e-mail to the 
Technical Committee as soon as possible.

Test&Tag
------------
All the electronic devices which will be plugged to the electrical 
network have to be tested and labelled by professionals according to 
Australian regulations. This will include power supplies, power boards, 
extension leads, battery charger (with 240Volts input) and other elements.

The organizers will have electricians performing the Test&Tag procedure 
for free during the setup days. Since several hundreds of devices will 
need to be tested for each league, it is strongly advised to arrive 
early during the setup days to make sure your equipment is inspected 
during this period.

If your equipment is not tested and tagged by the local professionals, 
it cannot be used during the competition. No exceptions will be made. 
Inspection during the competition days need to be payed for by the teams.


Changes to the GameController
------------------------------------------
The GameController has been updated to implement the rule changes since 
RoboCup2018.

You can find the latest version of the Gamecontroller here: 
https://github.com/RoboCup-Humanoid-TC/GameController 
<https://github.com/RoboCup-Humanoid-TC/GameController>

The main changes affect game interruptions (free-kicks, penalties, 
goal-kicks, corner kicks, throw-ins) and the process for entering the 
field for penalized robots.

The changes for the GameInterruption are the following:

* Three new 'state2' have been introduced 
(CornerKick:7,GoalKick:8,ThrowIn:9).

* All game Interruption are now using the following procedure:

    1. Preparation phase: All robot shoulds stop moving, ball is being 
placed (FreeKickInfo = 0)

    2. Placing phase: Robots can position themselves (FreeKickInfo = 1)

    3. End phase: Illegally positioned robots are removed from the field 
(FreeKickInfo = 2)


Wireless
-----------
During the GermanOpen, issues regarding the use of the 2.4 GHz were 
experienced. We suggest that you look into making your robots ready to 
work with 5.0 GHz WiFi in order to improve the reception of messages 
from the GameController.

Please also note that the network at the competition will be hidden and 
/ or password protected in order to ensure the network quality. So 
please make sure your robots support this.

As in previous years no private wireless networks will be allowed in the 
competition hall and this rule will be strictly enforced.


Drop-In games
--------------------
For KidSize and TeenSize, it is likely that the Drop-In games will be 
played on a field with natural lightning.

For AdultSize, since one of the teams has withdrawn, it will not be 
possible to have 3 vs 3 drop-in games. Drop-in games will therefore be 
played 2 vs 2.


Referee duty
-------------
There are two significant changes regarding referee duty for RoboCup 2019.

First, referees will have to contribute to the robot inspection which 
occurs during the setup-days. Therefore, it is mandatory that a referee 
from each team is present during the setup days.

Second, for the drop-in games, there will be inter-league refereeing. 
Referees from Adult-Size will referee Teen- and KidSize games and the 
other way around. Therefore, you have to make sure that your referee is 
familiar with the specificities of the rules for other leagues.