[robocup-legged] Dutch Open 2006 Results

[Thomas Röfer]

Hi all,

I just mirror Will's e-mail here for the Dutch Open that took place on 7-9
April in Eindhoven. Seven teams participated in the Four-Legged League:

- Aibo Team Humboldt
- Bremen Byters
- Darmstadt Dribbling Dackels
- Dutch AIBO Team
- Hamburg Dog Bots
- Microsoft Hellhounds
- Team Chaos

The Microsoft Hellhounds won the Soccer Competition (2nd ATH, 3rd DDD), and
Darmstadt won the Technical Challenge (2nd BB, 3rd MSH). There was some
discussion about the challenge results, because the referee counted a goal
in the "New Goal Challenge" that was scored by Darmstadt after five seconds
of ball holding, which costed Bremen the first place (sorry, I had to
mention it ;-).

Anyway, in the games of the Hellhounds, their wireless connections vanished
when playing against GT2004-based teams, while they worked perfectly while
playing against GT2005-based teams, resulting in a rather fluctuating
performance. It seems that the point-to-point communication in the GT2004
code produces too much network traffic, maybe because the sending frequency
of the packages was increased by some teams. Please note that the network
traffic allowed by the rules was significantly reduced in 2005. In
Eindhoven, we decided to play with separate access points for each team in
the semifinals and afterwards, which appeared to work better.

However, the rules state that each team is only allowed using 500Kbps for
all four robots together, so please make sure that your team does not exceed
this limit. Otherwise, you are not allowed to participate. Please also note
that the robots are the only equipment of the teams that is allowed using
wireless communication. Any other wireless communication devices (wireless
network cards, access points, routers, PDAs, Smartphones, etc.) have to be
switched off. If you don't know how to switch off the wireless card of your
computer, you will have to switch off the entire computer (which makes it
pretty useless, but at least you can show which brand you prefer).

Another thing cannot be mentioned often enough: if you participate in the
RoboCup, you have to referee games. During refereeing, you have to wear
black socks and black trousers. So if you do not plan to do some on-site
shopping in Bremen, it is a good idea to pack some black socks and trousers
in your luggage...

You'll know such things if you have read the rules. So do it. Study the
rules. Referee test games in your lab. Use the GameController. Before you
actually referee an official game or a challenge at one of the Local Opens.
People like referees who know the rules and hate the ones who do not.

Did I already mention that you have to bring black trousers and black socks?

(long-time RoboCuppers know why I am so annoying about these things ;-)

Anyway, see you in Bremen...

Thomas Röfer

_______________________________________________________________________
Dr. Thomas Röfer                   Office Address:
DFKI-Lab Bremen                    Universität Bremen
Safe and Secure Cognitive Systems  MZH 3060
Robert-Hooke-Str. 5                Bibliothekstr. 1
28359 Bremen, Germany              28359 Bremen, Germany
http://www.dfki.de                 www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~roefer

Phone: +49 (421) 218-4659    
Fax:   +49 (421) 218-3054
eMail: Thomas.Roefer at dfki.de