[robocup-nao] A Few Question about the Rules

Tekin Mericli tekin.mericli at boun.edu.tr
Wed May 27 04:09:08 EDT 2009


Hi Elad,

My answers are between the lines below.

On Wed, May 27, 2009 at 3:09 AM, Elad Alon <elad.alon at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I've got a few questions about the rules:
>
> 1. Should the robots have stickers with their numbers on them? Where do we
> obtain these stickers?
>

Yes, they should and the individual robot number stickers will be obtained
at the competition site. See Section 2.1 in the rule book.


>
>
> 2. What are those jersies the rules-file keeps mentioning? The stickers?
>

The jerseys mentioned in the rule book are the red / blue plastic pieces on
the robot. Together with the numbers, the referees will be able to call
penalties like "pushing, blue number 2".


>
>
> 3. If, during a penalty kick, the goalie obtains posession of the ball,
> what may it do with it? Can it keep it for more than 5 seconds, in that
> case? Can it send it out of bounds? Anything similar it can do to prevent
> the opponent robot from using the remaining 60 seconds to score a goal?
>

The goalie can touch the ball within its penalty box and kick it out of
bounds if it can. If the goalie touches the ball outside its penalty area,
then a goal will be awarded to the attacking team. All the rules such as
“Ball Holding”, “Pushing” and others are also applied during the penalty
kick. See Section 3.7.


>
>
> 4. Regarding the manual issuing of penalties via the chest button - is it
> mandatory to support that, or is it something we only need to implement if
> we don't have proper connection to the game controller?
>

Implementing the button interface is mandatory.


>
> 5. Regarding the manual configuration of the robots (their team color,
> etc.) - is it mandatory, or is it just a way to work with the robot if
> networking doesn't work? I mean, could we SSH to (non-yet-in-play) robots
> and set their robot-number and team-color, then let them enter the game, or
> must we support the setting of these properties via the button and bumpers?
>

We usually ask the teams to turn off any kind of wireless devices /
connections and use ethernet cables instead. When (or before) the game
starts what we expect is that the *referees* should be able to change the
states of the robots, not the team members. Therefore, you should support
all kinds of button interface mentioned in the rule book, including the
chest button and the bumpers.


>
>
> 6. What rules govern manual placement? Pick-ups? Do we get a limited amount
> of these? Are we penalized for them in any way?
>

Manual placement is applied for kick off if the robots are not listening to
the game controller and/or incapable of placing themselves on the field
automatically (in that case the team members should tell the referees that
they want manual placement). Other than that, penalized robots are manually
placed back on the field right before they are unpenalized.


>
>
> 7. The (old) game controller deals with a team number. Are we given that
> number before the competition begins, and use it as our team number
> throughout RoboCup? Or at least long enough before a match begins that we
> can SSH to the robots and configure them?
>

Yes, the team numbers and the IP range are assigned to the teams during the
team setup period, which is usually the first 2 days.


>
>
> 8. After issuing a request for pickup, and being granted it, may we SSH to
> the picked up robot and interact with it, or is only manual interaction
> permissible? The rules mention that wireless devices are prohibited in the
> vicinity of the field during the match. What then can we do with a robot
> other than press its button? May we only connect to it via ethernet? Perhaps
> not even that?
>

You should not use wireless connection when the games are going on. You
should use ethernet cable to connect to the robot and change its settings.


>
>
> 9. Am I correct in understand that defensive players may start moving
> towards the ball as soon as the game state is changed to "play", and that
> they need not wait until an attacking player actually touches the ball for
> the first time?
>

Yes, all players can start moving when they received the "play" signal and
the defenders can touch the ball before the attacker.


>
>
> 10. The rules state that the ball may not be kicked into the goal directly
> from the kick-off position; it must first leave the center circle, and only
> from there may it be kicked and a goal scored. Some of the videos we have
> watched, however, appear to contradict this rule; a ball is gently shoved,
> remaining in the center circle, and then it is kicked directly into the
> goal. Is this a new rule? Or have we misinterpreted the rules?
>

The kick-off related rules are revised after the local competitions,
therefore, those videos may not be compatible with the current rules.


>
>
> 11. I believe I know the answer to this, but I want to be 100% sure. As
> long as they don't leave the carpeted area, may the robots leave the area of
> play? That is to say, may they step on and over the sidelines? (For example,
> when positioning
>

"Leaving the field" penalty is called when a robot leaves the field and does
not show an intention of coming back in the following 3 seconds.


Cheers,

Tekin

on behalf of the SPL Technical Committee
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