[robocup-worldwide] RoboCup 2014 Humanoid League - Call for Participation

Daniel Seifert dseifert at fumanoids.de
Fri Jan 10 11:17:56 EST 2014


                    Call for Participation

                 RoboCup 2014 Humanoid League
                    http://tzi.de/humanoid

           July 19-25th, 2014 (João Pessoa, Brazil)
                 http://www.robocup2014.org/

The RoboCup humanoid league is inviting interested teams to apply for
participation at the RoboCup 2014 competition in João Pessoa, Brazil.
The humanoid league will host competitions in three classes:
  * KidSize: 40 - 90cm robot height (ball size 10cm diameter)
  * TeenSize: 80 - 140cm robot height
  * AdultSize: 130 - 180cm robot height (minimum weight 10kg)
For more detailed class definitions and more information
about the humanoid league, please refer to the humanoid league home page
at http://www.tzi.de/humanoid and join the humanoid league mailing list
at https://lists.cc.gatech.edu/mailman/listinfo/robocup-humanoid

Due to restrictions on the number of teams able to participate at RoboCup
2014, all teams must provide the qualification material described below.
The technical committee will evaluate the qualification material and select
the best teams.

1) Team Data
------------
         - Team name
         - URL of the team's home page
         - Name of team leader or team contact person
         - E-mail address of team leader or contact person
         - Postal address of the team, team leader or contact person
         - Competition class: kid or teen or adult size

Please note that teams applying for participation in several classes
must submit individual application material for each class and pay the
appropriate registration fee for each class. Furthermore, teams in
different classes must be able to compete independently and at the same
time.

2) Robot Video
--------------
The first part of the qualification material is a video of your
robot demonstrating your team's autonomous soccer playing skills.

The minimum standard for qualification is:
         - localization of unknown ball position,
         - walking ability towards the ball,
         - robot positioning at the ball for kicking,
         - kicking the ball towards the goal,
         - ability of getting up autonomously from a fall (Kid Size)

However, more complex and intelligent behavior of teams of robots
demonstrating localization and team play are preferred, particularly
recordings from actual soccer matches.

The qualification video must be supplied as a link to it via www.youtube.com.
The maximum duration of the video is 5 minutes. The qualifying team is
responsible to ensure that the video adheres to YouTube's TOS (especially
in regards to music copyright) to prevent the video from being blocked
for the reviewers. Videos not viewable by the reviewers may lead to a team
not being qualified.

No video means no qualification!

3) Team Description Paper
-------------------------
A team description paper (TDP) must be submitted which
         - includes a statement committing to participate in the
           RoboCup 2014 Humanoid League competition,
         - includes a statement committing to making a person
           with sufficient knowledge of the rules available as referee
           during the competition,
         - fully describes the scientific aspects of your humanoid robot
           system and your research interests,
         - includes a summary of previous relevant achievements in
           research and development as well as publications,
         - mentions prior performance in RoboCup competitions
         - points out enhancements of the robots' hardware or software
           compared to the previous year
         - states explicitly whether software from other teams is used
           and if yes, which parts are used and what the team's own
           contributions are

The TDP is limited to 8 pages maximum and must be submitted in PDF format.
Resubmitting of last year's TDP will prevent qualification.

The TDP must follow the LNCS format which can be downloaded from
http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0

The quality of the TDP and the robot video will be decisive for
qualification.

Other evaluation criteria include contributions to
the RoboCup community by release of significant papers or software.

New teams and teams from countries that have not previously taken
part in RoboCup competitions may be given priority.

Teams are encouraged to consider joint participation. Joint proposals will
be judged on combined merit.

The TC may include the fulfillment of the statement of commitment of
participation as well as the performance of the team's referee in previous
RoboCup competitions into consideration for qualification.

4) Robot Specification
----------------------
A one-page specification (PDF) for each different type of
humanoid robot used by the team that includes the followings:
         - Robot picture
         - Robot name
         - Height of the robot
         - Weight of the robot
         - Walking speed
         - Number of degrees of freedom
         - Type of motors
         - Type of sensors used (incl. type of camera(s))
         - Computing unit(s)
         - Other specs

5) Plagiarism
-------------
Plagiarism, loosely the unattributed use of other peoples' words,
code, and ideas (see http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/
publications/rights/plagiarism_FAQ.html for a more detailed description)
is not tolerated in the RoboCup community. The teams and team members
that plagiarize other peoples' work and present it as their own will
be disqualified. For a first offense, the team and team members will
be banned from RoboCup competition for two years (usually the current
and next year). Harsher penalties will be applied to repeat offenders
or extremely serious cases of plagiarism. A team may be disqualified
at any time for plagiarism, even after the competition has started.
RoboCup will not reimburse teams for any expenses related to their
disqualification.

6) Online Submission
--------------------
All qualification material must be submitted online at

    http://application.germanteam.org/entries/new

7) Deadline
-----------
Deadline for submission: *** February 20th, 2014 ***

Announcement of qualified teams: March 15th, 2014

8) Publication
--------------
Please note that after the announcement of the qualified teams
the qualification material of the qualified teams will be made
publicly available. Teams applying for participation therefore
grant the right of publication of their qualification material
to the humanoid league.

9) Rules
--------
The rules of the RoboCup 2014 Humanoid League are discussed at
    https://lists.cc.gatech.edu/mailman/listinfo/robocup-humanoid
and will be published at
    http://www.tzi.de/humanoid

10) Special Offer: DARwIn OP
----------------------------
ROBOTIS (http://www.robotis.com) is offering a special promotion
to all teams participating in the 2014 RoboCup Humanoid Kidsize
league.

ROBOTIS will be offering a DARwIn-OP Academic Edition with a
complimentary Pelican case for $9,600/USD (EXWORK Korea only).
Up to 10 early birds, Webots EDU software license will be provided.

1-year basic warranty is included (teams should be technically ready
for self-maintenance.)

Please note that the quoted prices do not include shipping, any
local customs or tax and handling charges.

Teams interested in this offer should contact ROBOTIS at
contactus2 at robotis.com with the promo code (RTS2014BR). This
special offer valid for order made until March 22, 2014.

11) Special Offer: NimbRo-OP
----------------------------
University of Bonn provides an offer for TeenSize teams to purchase
a set of NimbRo-OP robots (http://www.nimbro.net/OP) for a reduced
price.  University of Bonn offers teams that intend to participate
in RoboCup 2014 to purchase two robots for 40,000 Euros or three
robots for 56,000 Euros.

Please note that the quoted price does not include taxes and shipping.
Teams that are interested in this offer need to place their order at
sales at ais.uni-bonn.de by February 28th, 2014.


With best regards,

Technical and Organization Committees
of RoboCup Humanoid League 2014

P.S.
Special thanks go to Thomas Roefer and Tim Laurinat from DFKI Bremen
for their support of the HL submission and web page.


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