[robocup-humanoid] V-HSC Newsletter 9

Thu May 20 10:46:38 EDT 2021

Dear Humanoid Teams,

This is the ninth Humanoid league newsletter summarizing the following
updates from the past two weeks:

- Final release of the AutoReferee
- Trophy for most realistic robot model
- Decision on server hosting and server specification update
- Model reviews and specification updates
- Robot Controller API update
- Mock competition registration
- Upcoming dates

Final release of the AutoReferee
================================

Since the last newsletter, there has been two releases:

- On May 10th: <https://github.com/RoboCup-Humanoid-TC/webots/pull/98>
- On May 20th: <https://github.com/RoboCup-Humanoid-TC/webots/pull/114>

The new features and rules introduced by those two releases are the
following:

- Ball holding
- Forceful contact
- Ball manipulation
- Inactive goalkeeper
- Penalized robots cannot send actuator requests anymore
- Robots with red cards cannot interact with the game anymore

The bug fixes and improvement include:

- Stabilization of robots after being penalized
- Multiple fixes in the Player implementation (server-side for
communication with the simulator)
- A refactor of the client which makes it easier to integrate

>From now on, only minor bug fixes are expected until the competition.

Trophy for most realistic robot model
=====================================

In addition to the winners of the soccer competition, the TC decided
that there will be an award for the most realistic robot model.

Teams may give a short presentation on the last day of the tournament
showcasing their model. An expert jury will then decide which robot
models are the most realistic. Details on the presentation format will
be published closer to the tournament.

Decision on server hosting and server specification update
==========================================================

The Technical Committee has now decided to host the competition on
Amazon Web Services (AWS). The server specification document has been
updated accordingly and now details what instance type is used for the
simulator and for the instance. The latest version can be found here:
<https://cdn.robocup.org/hl/wp/2021/05/v-hsc_server_specification_draft3b.pdf>

During the tournament, teams will submit their software as docker images
via a container registry provided by the Technical Committee. Teams are
allowed to submit more than one docker image per game. Each individual
image, however, is limited to 5 GB in size.
Team leaders have received an access key for the container registry by
mail on Tuesday. If you have not received the e-mail with the access
information, please get in touch with the technical committee.

After the games were streamed on Twitch, teams will get access to their
game logs. To retrieve their game logs, teams need to provide the
Technical Committee with access to an FTP server or an AWS S3 storage
instance. Game logs will then automatically be pushed to that ftp server
or S3 instance as soon as the stream has been finished.
Information on how to set up an S3 instance and a possibility to provide
the FTP or S3 access information to the Technical Committee will be
provided in the next update to the server specifications expected on May
24th.

The public game logs will be hosted on the RoboCup cloud and links to
the log files will be provided on the schedule and result page during
the tournament.

In order to make it easier for teams to recreate the competition setup
for testing purposes, the TC also provides in the server specifications:

- Detailed instructions on how to:
  - Create a Webots server VM on AWS
  - Get a client VM connected to it
  - How to push a docker image to the AWS container registry used for
the competition
- A public image that already contains a working Webots setup

Please be aware that the procedure provided currently is still not fully
operational when it comes to team communication. Your clients will not
be able to receive the updates from the GameController or to send
messages to each other using broadcast. We will be able to provide
information on how robot controllers will be able to communicate with
each other and the GameController with an update of the document planned
for May 24th.

Model reviews and specification updates
=======================================

All teams that submitted robot models have received feedback on May 7th
and an updated version of the robot model specifications has been made
public on May 18th. Thanks to the quick feedback of the teams we have
been able to fix some errors or bring clarifications to the document:
<https://cdn.robocup.org/hl/wp/2021/05/v-hsc_model_specification_v1.03c.pdf>

With the upcoming second deadline for May 23rd, we would like to remind
you that additionally to the feedback you received, you should also take
into account the following elements:

- It is now required to add a solid annotated with the [hand] tag
- If you were using meshes as bounding objects, you need to replace them
by the Webots geometric primitives
- If you are using cleats under the foot of your robot and you were
modelling them as cylinders, you need to change them to capsules
- Requirements regarding the backlash values have been updated.
- Push a docker image to the AWS container registry with a simple
walking behavior for your robot
- *KidSize only* provide a video of your robot standing up in the Webots
simulation

You will receive additional feedback on your robot models by May 31st
and in case the model is not accepted, you will have to submit a final
update by June 11th. All teams that have passed the robot inspection
will need to send a written request to the TC in order to change their
robot model after May 23rd.

The semi-automated validation tool will be made available on May 30th
for teams to check their robot models before the final submission.

Robot Controller API update
===========================

The robot controller API has been updated to include more documentation
and reflect the latest decisions that were taken: 
<https://cdn.robocup.org/hl/wp/2021/05/v-hsc_simulator_api_v1.0.pdf>

Note that we can now confirm that teams will have an available bandwidth
of 350MB/s for the whole team. To give a better idea of what this means
in term of resolution, the following configuration are acceptable if a
time step of 16ms is used with a single camera:

- For a team of 2 robots (AdultSize): 1280x720 (330 MB/s for the team)
- For a team of 4 robots (KidSize): 800x600 (343 MB/s for the team)

Mock competition registration
=============================
Don’t forget to register for the mock-competition to be held June 4th to
June 6th if you want to test your robot software under realistic
tournament conditions.

You can sign up via the humanoid league submission form until May 21st.
Participation is completely free of charge for all teams registered for
the main competition.

We will provide further details on the event schedule by May 28th.

Upcoming dates
==============

- May 21st: Sign-up for Mock-competition closes
- May 24th: Next update of the server specification document
- May 28th: Announcement of the schedule for the Mock-competition
- May 30th: Semi-automated tool for model validation is published
(tentative)
- May 31st: Feedback is provided to teams on the 2nd robot model submission
- June 4th-6th: Mock-competition
- June 7th: Team registration for the RoboCup 2021 event closes
- June 11th: Final submission of the robot models for teams that have
not passed the second robot model submission.

We welcome all your questions and comments on the Discord channel and
the Forum.

Cheers,

Ludovic (for the Humanoid League Organizing Committee)