[robocup-legged] Re: Question about the acoustic device

[William Uther]

On 17/04/2006, at 11:41 AM, Yasutomo Oomori wrote:

> Dear, Technical Committee.
>
> I have the program that measures the volume of sound. And I have  
> some questions about how to use it in rules.
>
> In the rules, there are no restrictions on communication between  
> the robots using a microphone or a speaker.
> I could not find other descriptions about the acoustic.
>
> Question-1.
> Are there restrictions on communication between the robots and the  
> human?

During a game, the only communication with the robots should be  
through the official game controller, or between robots on the field.

> In a word, is it possible that the team member send messages to a  
> robot by acoustic?

One of the robots on the field could send messages to another robot.   
A human should not be sending messages to the robots.

One thing that is unclear is using crowd noise during a game.  I  
think the technical committee will have to discuss whether it is ok  
to respond to crowd noise.  I can see a possible argument that this  
should be allowed, as long as the robot is responding to generic  
crowd noise, and not specific commands.  e.g. listening to the  
general level of background noise would be ok, but listening to the  
crowd should "turn left" would not be.  Listening to a device off the  
field making tones is definitely out.  The problem is that this is a  
fuzzy line.  If you are planning something specific in this area, it  
would be best to check with the technical committee - describing your  
plan in more detail.

BTW, if the technical committee does allow use of crowd noise, then  
section 4.13 on jamming will probably not apply to it.  So, if you  
rely on calling out "turn left" to make the robot turn left, then you  
must accept that your opponents in the crowd may call out "turn left"  
at other times, or make enough noise that the robot cannot hear you.

> Question-2.
> How about is it possible in The Open Challenge?

In general, communication with the robots _is_ allowed in the Open  
Challenge.

> Question-3.
> How about is it possible in The Passing Challenge?

Normal game rules apply, so no.

> Question-4.
> How about is it possible in The New Goal Challenge?

Normal game rules apply, so no.

> Question-5.
> How about is it possible to use to look for the obstacle?

I'm not entirely sure what you are asking here.  You are allowed to  
use sound to look for obstacles during a game, as long as that  
doesn't involve humans or other apparatus off the field.

Most teams use vision and/or PSD sensors to detect opponents.

I hope that helps,

Will        :-}

--
Dr William Uther                           National ICT Australia
Phone: +61 2 8306 0424               Computer Science and Engineering
Email: william.uther at nicta.com.au      University of New South Wales
Email: willu at cse.unsw.edu.au                  Sydney, Australia

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