<div dir="ltr"><div><span class="">Final Call</span> for <span class="">Applications</span> for <span class="">Participation</span> (deadline 23:59 Tuesday 1 December, 2015 UTC/GMT -11 hours)<br><br>RoboCup 2016 Standard Platform League<br><a href="http://www.tzi.de/spl/">www.tzi.de/spl/</a><br>Leipzig, Germany<br>Tuesday 28th June through Monday 4th July 2016<br><a href="http://www.robocup2016.org" target="_blank">http://www.robocup2016.org</a><br><br>RoboCup
is an international initiative that fosters research and education in
Robotics and Artificial Intelligence through a variety of competitions
(RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home, RoboCupJunior) involving
mostly multi-robot systems. RoboCup currently includes a number of
different robot soccer leagues that focus on different research
challenges.<br><br>The Standard Platform League (SPL) is characterized by the use of an identical robot platform by all the teams. <span class="">Participating</span>
researchers focus on algorithmic development for fully autonomous
robots, i.e., robots that operate with no external control. The SPL at
RoboCup 2016 will use any H21 or H25 version of the NAO humanoid robot
manufactured by Aldebaran Robotics. The SPL robot soccer games at
RoboCup 2016 will be played between teams of five robots on a 6m x 9m
field.<br><br>The RoboCup 2016 SPL will host three competitions: a team competition, a drop-in player competition, and 2 technical challenges.<br><br>The
RoboCup 2016 SPL team competition will be able to host 24 teams. 8 of
these 24 teams will compete in an outdoor competition (featuring natural
lighting and more realistic carpet) for the first round robin while the
other 16 teams will compete indoor for the first round robin. All 8
teams from the outdoor competition will proceed to the second round
robin of the team competition, while only 8 of the 16 teams from the
indoor first round will advance to the second round robin of the team
competition. The second round as well as subsequent rounds will be
played indoors with semi-controlled lighting and normal carpet. The 24
teams <span class="">participating</span> in the team competition must also compete in the drop-in player competition and/or the technical challenges.<br><br>At
most 8 additional teams, who do not compete in the team competition,
will be selected to compete in the drop-in player competition and the
technical challenges.<br><br>Teams for all three competitions will be selected from the interested parties responding to this <a href="http://www.tzi.de/spl/bin/view/Website/Call2016" target="_blank"><span class="">call</span></a> by <b>December 1st, 2015</b>.<br><br>The <a href="http://www.tzi.de/spl/bin/view/Website/MajorRule2015" target="_blank">full rules of RoboCup 2015 SPL</a> as well as documents outlining the <a href="http://www.tzi.de/spl/pub/Website/Downloads/Challenges2016.pdf" target="_blank">technical challenges</a> and <a href="http://www.tzi.de/spl/bin/view/Website/MajorRule2016" target="_blank">major rules changes</a>
for RoboCup 2016 SPL (which will be incorporated into the RoboCup 2016
SPL rulebook in a more detailed form) are posted on the SPL <a href="http://www.tzi.de/spl/" target="_blank">website</a>.<br><br>Qualification<br>-------------<br><br>All
interested teams must submit an original qualification document. In
order for the qualification document to be considered, it must (1) be no
longer than 5 pages and (2) include all of the following information in
sections with the specified headings:<br><br><b>Team Information</b>:
the team name, the team leader(s), the team constitution (eg. 5
undergraduate students, 3 masters students, 1 professor), and the
university/company affiliation(s) of the team<br>Robot Information: the
number of each type of NAO owned by the team (eg, intend to buy 6 H25
NAO v4s or currently have 5 H21 V3.3, etc)<br><br><b>Preference</b>:
preference of the team to compete in team competition (specify
preference for indoor or outdoor), drop-in player competition and
technical challenges (do not list anything you are unwilling to compete
in, order your preferences, listing a preference of (1) indoor team
competition, (2) drop-in player competition would mean the team prefers
the indoor team competition over the drop-in player competition and is
unwilling to <span class="">participate</span> in the technical challenges or the outdoor team competition). Teams are expected to <span class="">participate</span> in at least two of the three competitions.<br><br><b>Code Usage</b>:
acknowledge the team's use of any other team's code (1) previously from
2013 to present and (2) currently. Address how you anticipate the
team's use of any other team's code will change by RoboCup 2016
competition, if at all. If the team does not use any other team's code,
state so.<br><br><b>Past History</b>: provide game results in RoboCup
Open competitions as well as main RoboCup competitions from 2013 onward.
Include opponents and game scores from each competition in a table.
State if the team plans to <span class="">participate</span> in any RoboCup Open competitions prior to RoboCup 2016.<br><br><b>Impact</b>: what is the impact of the team's <span class="">participation</span> and research in RoboCup on (1) the SPL, (2) the team's university/community<br><br><b>Other</b>: present any other information that you believe supports your <span class="">application</span><br><br>Note that submitting an <span class="">application</span> serves as a statement of commitment to <span class="">participate</span> in the RoboCup 2016 SPL. If you have doubts regarding the ability of your team to <span class="">participate</span> (due to funding, visas, ect), please note this in the 'Other' section of your <span class="">application</span>. Declining to <span class="">participate</span> in any competition after the official early registration period has opened may negatively affect future <span class="">applications</span> (the later you decline, the worse it will affect future <span class="">applications</span>).<br><br>The
written material must be complemented by a link to a video (maximum 5
min long, uploaded on the team's web site or on some video server) that
demonstrates the current status of the team. The video is used by the TC
to determine the readiness of the team to compete effectively, and
hence should focus on the team’s ability to play soccer. Teams who did
not <span class="">participate</span> in the team competition at
RoboCup 2015 must include footage of at least one robot attempting to
kick off and score (this footage must be captured as a single wide shot
with no cuts). In cases where footage from multiple teams is shown (such
as game footage), please include a textual overlay denoting which team
is the applying team. Videos of simulation contributions will also be
accepted, but only when real robots are unavailable. Preference will be
given to teams that use real robots to show soccer skills in their
video.<br><br>The technical committee may also request a live demo via
Skype or a similar video chat service between the dates of December 11
and December 15. Teams will be notified by December 9 if the technical
committee wishes to see such a demo. A team would be expected to show
one or more robots executing a kick-off and then attempting to score. If
providing a live demo between December 11 and December 15 would be
problematic, please note this in your email when you submit your <span class="">application</span> and provide earlier dates which would be feasible.<br><br>Pre-Qualification<br>-------------<br><br>Teams
that satisfied the pre-qualification guidelines as set forth in the
RoboCup 2015 rulebook will be pre-qualified for RoboCup 2016, if they
submit the following original qualification document. Teams able to
pre-qualify include: Berlin United - Nao Team Humboldt (BU-NaoTH),
B-Human, Cerberus, Nao Devils Dortmund, NTU RoboPAL, UNSW Australia, and
WrightOcean .<br><br>The original qualification document must include:<br><br>1. the team name<br>2.
the leader(s), the constitution (eg. 5 undergraduate students, 3
masters students, 1 professor), and the university/company
affiliation(s) of the team<br>3. the number of each type of NAO owned by the team (eg, intend to buy 6 H25 NAO v4s or currently have 5 H21 V3.3, etc)<br>4.
preference of the team to compete in team competition (specify
preference for indoor or outdoor), drop-in player competition and
technical challenges (do not list anything you are unwilling to compete
in, order your preferences, listing a preference of (1) indoor team
competition, (2) drop-in player competition would mean the team prefers
the indoor team competition over the drop-in player competition and is
unwilling to <span class="">participate</span> in the technical challenges or the outdoor team competition). Teams are expected to <span class="">participate</span> in at least two of the three competitions.<br>5. a link to a team research report describing their work for RoboCup 2015 (must be posted in a publicly available location)<br><br>For
teams who reached the quarter-finals in the team competition, this team
research report must include a link to publicly release code as
detailed in the 2015 SPL rulebook<br><br>If a joint 2015 team splits, only one team can be pre-qualified for 2016 (please, indicate which one).<br><br>Submission and Evaluation<br>-------------<br><br>All <span class="">applications</span> with the (pre-)qualification material must be submitted by <b>December 1st, 2015</b>, by email to <a href="mailto:rc-spl-tc@lists.robocup.org" target="_blank">rc-spl-tc@lists.robocup.org</a>. <span class="">Applications</span> must not be sent to personal SPL TC/OC email addresses and must not contain video attachments.<br><br>Teams are encouraged to consider joint <span class="">participation</span>. Joint proposals will be judged on combined merit.<br><br>Qualification decisions will be announced by December 16, 2015.<br><br>Robot Acquisition<br>-------------<br><br>Aldebaran
Robotics will have a special pricing package for teams who qualify for
the RoboCup 2015 SPL Competition. The details of this special pricing
package are still in the works - information will be posted <a href="http://www.tzi.de/spl/bin/view/Website/Call2016" target="_blank">online</a>
once it is available. A list of qualified teams will be sent to
Aldebaran by the SPL Technical Committee after the qualification
decisions have been announced, so teams may contact Aldebaran after that
date to order robots if they choose.<br><br>Orders will have to be placed to Aldebaran before April 1st, 2016 to benefit from discounted prices.<br><br>Team Competition Qualified Teams<br>-------------<br><br>Aldebaran
will likely agree to deliver up to 6 RoboCup NAO (either new robots or
replacement robots) per SPL Team Competition Qualified Team at a
negotiated price. Above this limit of 6 robots, any additional robots
can be purchased at the regular list price applicable at the time of
purchase.<br><br>Drop-In and Technical Challenge Qualified Teams<br>-------------<br><br>Aldebaran
will likely agree to deliver up to 2 RoboCup NAO (either new robots or
replacement robots) per SPL Drop-In and Technical Challenge Qualified
Team at a negotiated price. Above this limit of 2 robots, any additional
robots can be purchased at the regular list price applicable at the
time of purchase.<br><br></div>Best regards,<br>- The RoboCup 2016 Standard Platform League Technical and Organizing Committees</div>