[robocup-small] Major Rule Changes 2012 Discussion

[Angelo Gurzoni Jr]

Hello, everybody !

The TC, after consultation with the Execs and OC, is issuing a major rule
changes proposal for community consideration. 

We kindly ask teams to provide feedback and discuss it using the ssl mailing
list, until November 16th. The TC will try its best to summarize the
feedback and answers in a document available to everybody. Please send your
comments, suggestions and feedback.

 

MAJOR RULE CHANGES FOR 2012 PROPOSAL


After having evaluated various ideas and analyzed the results of the member
survey, the TC has elaborated some rule change proposals that we believe
will make the game more intelligent.
Is the TC understanding that the first two rule changes may be simpler to
implement, while the last two have deeper impacts, which is one more (not
the only !) reason to ask for community feedback.
Please also consider that the number of major rule changes in a single year
needs to be constrained, so the final decision likely will not include all
the four proposals. Depending on the community feedback, it is possible that
a change not implemented may be added as a technical challenge or to the
RoadMap (3 year plan) discussion, to occur right after the rule change
decision.

1) Ball's maximum speed reduction

The current maximum ball speed on the SSL is too high, leading to games with
elevated number of throw-ins and favoring of simple shooting to the goal
over passing. The TC considers that a reduction to the maximum ball speed to
a number around 6 m/s would be beneficial and lead to a more intelligent
game. A plug-in to check compliance is to be created, but regardless of it
the TC trusts teams to apply the changes. If anybody in the community thinks
of some test that can be performed in lab to adjust the maximum ball speed,
the TC would welcome suggestions.


2) Defense area increase

The current defense area, of 500mm, allows that most teams use what seem to
actually be 3 goalkeepers, when defending, using two robots in front of the
goalkeeper. To make this strategy less efficient and incentive teams to play
smartly, the TC considers that the defense area should be expanded to 800mm.
The penalty mark will be moved accordingly, to 750mm. This change is
irrespective of a change in field size, and shall the field size change the
defense area must be scaled based on the proposed size.


3) Change in number of players to 6

The TC believes that the addition of a 6th robot on the SSL teams will
increase the possibilities for passing and intelligent plays. The benefits
are manifold: Teams can increase the number and variety of team plays,
experiment with more agents in the field and create different behaviors for
robots and. The TC believes the current field size to be enough for 12
robots and that cluttering of robots on the space will not be significant

The TC understands that there is additional financial costs involved, but
based on the responses of the SSL Survey, when most teams agreed with this
proposal, the TC understands that most teams are ready for the change and in
fact may already have enough extra robots for that. We would like to receive
feedback to confirm this understanding, as well as to know if there are
teams which cannot afford this change because of financial restrictions.


4) Field Size Slight Increase

The TC is considering a proposal to increase the field size to 5.0 x 7.5m,
as well as proportionally adjusting also the other field markings and goal
size. Thanks to the MRL team, the feasibility of the new field size in
SSL-Vision (using 2 cameras), was tested and confirmed.

However, there's concern on the TC about how teams who want/need to maintain
fully sized fields in their laboratories will accommodate the increase and
the overall feedback of the teams about the idea. 

Be aware also that a permission from the RoboCup Federation may be needed to
increase field sizes, as a general guideline received is to keep field sizes
similar throughout all the leagues (except middle size)

 

 

Regards,

Christopher Head, Mohammad Hoshyari and Angelo Gurzoni Jr

The SSL TC for RoboCup Mexico 2012.

 

 

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