[robocup-small] Announcement of Major Rule Changes

[Tim Laue]

Dear RoboCuppers,

after a long time of discussion, the TC finally decided on the major
rule changes for 2008. Here is the short version:

* The constraints regarding the robot hardware remain the same, there 
will be no changes.

* The field size will be increased, a drawing of the new field is now on 
the league's web site:
http://small-size.informatik.uni-bremen.de/rules:main

Here are some longer explanations:

* Robot Hardware
----------------
There have been very few postings regarding standard batteries, 
increasing the number of robots, or limiting the speed of the robots or 
the kickers. Since no broad discussion about these issues emerged (very 
few or no comments at all, whether positive or negative), these issues 
have been considered as being of no interest for the community. The 
current status of these rules seems to be satisfying.

* Field Size
------------
The has been a huge discussion about this topic. As well on 
[robocup-small] as inside the TC. A majority of all teams has agreed 
with increasing the field size.
The long delay until this announcement (please excuse!) is the result of 
the TC's efforts of determining a reasonable increase.
There have been two major constraints:

- The increase should be substantial
By increasing the field size, most people expect to see more passes and 
a more interesting gameplay. But a real difference might only be seen, 
if there is a perceptible change of the field. A second minor increase 
would not lead to a substantially different/better gameplay.

- After the increase, all teams should be able to play with two cameras
Having a field which has a size that may only be covered by four cameras 
would directly result in an organizational nightmare, if every team sets 
up its own four cameras (of course, teams are allowed to).

Keeping these things in mind, several tests on a real field have been 
made; many thanks to Mahisorn and team Plasma-Z!
The result is a field which has effectively (whole field minus the 
border areas) grown by 50 percent. A larger increase would theoretically 
been possible, but some practical issues make this size the best one for 
SSL to go with.

As you will notice, the new field drawing has a different penalty area. 
This is a suggestion of the TC which we would like to discuss with the 
community (a detailed e-mail about the continuation of the rules 
discussion will follow this weekend). Since many people would like to 
see more passes, we came to the opinion that a larger penalty area 
(given the current rule set) is a great incentive to implement more 
passing moves since it will help to outperform the defending team.

Best regards,

Tim
On behalf of the TC



-- 
------------------------------------------------------------
Dipl.-Inf. Tim Laue                 Courier Mail Address:
FB3 Mathematik - Informatik         Cartesium 1.057
Universität Bremen                  FB3
Postfach 330 440                    Universität Bremen
D-28334 Bremen                      Enrique-Schmidt-Straße 5
Phone: (+49) 421-218-64209          D-28359 Bremen
Fax:   (+49) 421-218-9864209