[robocup-small] robocup-small Digest, Vol 145, Issue 1
Stefan P
stefan.posey at gatech.edu
Wed Nov 15 14:31:11 EST 2017
Would there be an interest in a "division B" reference platform?
Possibly targeted toward new teams and with a limited feature set (example
only kicking no chipping capability).
--
Stefan Posey
On Wed, Nov 15, 2017 at 2:10 PM, Raul Lapeira <raul.lapeira at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Amazing changes... just a comment: I am pretty sure that if a little more
> improvement can be achieved (like the one you state) we could market this
> category heavily to sponsors here in Spain. It is usually difficult to get
> money to build teams if you are not an university but if some of those
> things go forward I am sure we could get at least a team in Madrid and
> another in Barcelona and have recurrent matches.
>
> This category is in the position to drive investment in the Robocup as a
> whole in my opinion.
>
> On Wed, Nov 15, 2017 at 7:19 PM, <robocup-small-request at cc.gatech.edu>
> wrote:
>
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>> Today's Topics:
>>
>> 1. RoboCup 2018 Changes (Christian Lobmeier)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2017 19:12:48 +0100
>> From: Christian Lobmeier <pardinensis at gmail.com>
>> To: rc-ssl-tc at lists.robocup.org, rc-ssl-oc at lists.robocup.org,
>> robocup-small at cc.gatech.edu
>> Subject: [robocup-small] RoboCup 2018 Changes
>> Message-ID:
>> <CALw+80fFNKc34FXHUUhnjz7n=4xiSQQrpAb5op1z2qQihp_6TA at mail.gm
>> ail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>
>> Hey everyone,
>>
>> The SSL is in a challenging state right now. Especially in comparison to
>> other leagues, the SSL suffers from a distinct lack of innovation and
>> progress. The technical challenges are mostly ignored, the mixed team
>> challenge has been an absolute catastrophe and even the competition games
>> looked similar to 5 years ago.
>>
>> If we want to be able to contribute something to the oft-cited goal of
>> 2050, we need changes, big changes. And we need to start to make these
>> changes now. So without further ado, lets get right down to business.
>>
>>
>>
>> 1.
>>
>> Divisions
>>
>>
>> Starting in 2018, the Small Size League will be divided into two divisions
>> with separate tournaments: Division A and division B. Division A is aimed
>> at advanced teams whereas new and/or less competitive teams can play in
>> division B. Each team will only play in one of those two divisions. When
>> submitting the qualification material, the team also chooses a preferred
>> division including a short rationale. The OC will have the final word. We
>> are aiming at around 12 teams per division.
>>
>> There are multiple benefits of having two divisions.
>>
>> -
>>
>> The SSL has a rather high entry barrier. Our goal is to further advance
>> the league while keeping the entry barrier at a reasonable level. With
>> splitting the league, we can challenge seasoned teams while still being
>> attractive for newcomers. The qualification criteria for the division
>> B can
>> even be lowered a bit without hurting the competition.
>> -
>>
>> Feedback from this year?s RoboCup has shown that it is very important
>> for teams to face off against opponents of similar skill. Dividing the
>> league into two divisions rids a lot of the one sided games in
>> exchange for
>> more interesting match-ups.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 1.
>>
>> Increased number of robots
>>
>>
>> This change applies to division A only. The intermediate-term goal of the
>> SSL is to be the first league to play 11v11 with actual robots
>> (discounting
>> the simulation leagues). To achieve this goal, division A will play with 8
>> robots per team by 2018 and with 11 robots by 2019 or 2020.
>>
>>
>>
>> 1.
>>
>> Increased field size
>>
>>
>> This change applies to division A only. To provide enough space for 8 (and
>> later on 11) robots, the field size will be increased. There are no final
>> decisions regarding the concrete dimensions, mostly because we don?t know
>> yet how much space the SSL is allowed to allocate. The current plan is to
>> double the size of the field (to 9x12m) while increasing the width of the
>> goal by 20 percent (to 1.20m). The defense area will also be increased by
>> 20 percent in each dimension compared to the smaller field. Division B
>> will
>> still use a 6x9m field.
>>
>>
>>
>> 1.
>>
>> Rectangular defense area
>>
>>
>> This change applies to both divisions. Speaking of the defense area, it is
>> time to introduce some changes there. Every single team uses some sort of
>> defenders that always move along the defense area. It is obviously a very
>> effective defense strategy and rather easy to implement. To make the
>> defense more interesting, the shape of the defense area will be changed to
>> a rectangle (2.40x1.20m for the large field, 2.00x1.00m for the small
>> field). The rules regarding the defense area will stay the same. This
>> means
>> that attackers and defenders are still allowed to move through the defense
>> area as long as they don?t touch the ball.
>>
>>
>>
>> 1.
>>
>> Reduced ball speed
>>
>>
>> This change applies to both divisions. Even though the field increases
>> quite a bit for division A, the maximum allowed ball speed will be reduced
>> from 8m/s to 6.5m/s.
>>
>> Currently, it is very common to score goals from large distance, even
>> against strong teams. The reason is that the ball is fast enough to make
>> it
>> through a hole in the defense without the defenders being able to react in
>> time. This is not a bad thing by itself, the defense should just
>> anticipate
>> passes and future attack maneuvers. However, the offense is currently very
>> one-dimensional. It all boils down to finding or forcing a hole in the
>> defense and exploiting it. There is only little advantage gained by being
>> able to bring the ball towards the opponent goal without losing possession
>> or getting marked. By reducing the maximum ball speed, long distance shots
>> are less likely to succeed resulting in a stronger focus on positional
>> play.
>>
>> The signature high pace of our league will not be affected by this change.
>> First, the viewer will most likely not even notice the difference in shoot
>> speed and second, the high pace is not affected by the speed of the robots
>> or the speed of the ball, but of the frequency of actions (e.g. passes,
>> goal shots).
>>
>>
>>
>> 1.
>>
>> Excellence Award
>>
>>
>> The RoboCup unites two very different ideas: research in robotics and a
>> soccer competition. While it usually synergizes quite well, there are some
>> conflicts when it comes to the actual goals and motivations. The goals of
>> the RoboCup is to promote research and innovation and advance the field of
>> robotics as a whole. A major goal of the teams is to win the competition.
>> The problem is that investing time into research does not necessarily
>> improve the results in the RoboCup competition, especially if the new
>> ideas
>> don?t work out as intended. Instead, the most effective way to succeed is
>> to only make small, incremental changes and use tested and trusted
>> technologies. Thankfully, a lot of teams do actual research and try out
>> new
>> technologies. To honor that, we will introduce the Excellence Award.
>>
>> The Excellence Award is a judged award given to teams that show a lot of
>> overall skill and dedication to the long-term goals of the RoboCup. The
>> criteria include:
>>
>> -
>>
>> Performance in competition games
>> -
>>
>> Performance in Technical Challenges
>> -
>>
>> Sportsmanship
>> -
>>
>> Research Contributions
>> -
>>
>> Innovation
>>
>>
>> This Excellence Award will be the most important award given out to SSL
>> teams on the RoboCup. More information regarding awards will be released
>> in
>> spring.
>>
>>
>>
>> 1.
>>
>> Qualification process
>>
>>
>> Obviously, the (E)TDP is a central part of the qualification and is used
>> to
>> determine whether a team is able to participate or not. However, in 2017
>> the (E)TDPs and their reviews have been ignored for the qualification
>> results. This won?t happen next year. Each team is required to submit a
>> (E)TDP that follows the given guidelines
>> <http://wiki.robocup.org/Small_Size_League/RoboCup_2018/Qualification>.
>> If
>> the paper lacks quality, the team will only be conditionally qualified and
>> has the chance to incorporate the feedback into the paper. If the second
>> version does not improve significantly, the team will not be qualified for
>> the RoboCup.
>>
>> Since the RoboCup is in June, the whole qualification process will start
>> earlier this year:
>>
>> -
>>
>> TDP Submission Deadline: January 16, 2018
>>
>>
>> -
>>
>> TDP Peer Review Deadline: February 2, 2018
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 1.
>>
>> Additional changes
>>
>>
>> The following rule changes will be made this year, the points below are a
>> summary of the changes and may differ slightly from the final text in the
>> rules.
>>
>>
>> -
>>
>> Only linear shots can be used to score a goal. If the ball height
>> exceeds the robot height between the last contact of an attacker and
>> the
>> crossing of the goal line, the goal will not be scored.
>> -
>>
>> Automatic ball placement becomes mandatory for division A.
>> -
>>
>> The collision rule will be reworked. If two robots collide with a
>> relative speed of more than 1.5m/s, the faster robot committed a foul.
>> -
>>
>> The bar above the goal will be removed to provide better vision in the
>> goal.
>> -
>>
>> If two teams want to collaborate and appear and participate as one,
>> they
>> will now be able to register as a joint team.
>>
>>
>>
>> We are aware that these changes mean a lot of work for everyone, but we
>> think that they are necessary to improve our league as a whole. If you
>> have
>> any criticism, good or bad, or if some points are not clear to you, don't
>> hesitate to write us a mail. Even though these changes are the result of
>> months of discussion, nothing is written in stone, yet.
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Christian Lobmeier
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>> End of robocup-small Digest, Vol 145, Issue 1
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