The Junior Soccer competition involves the use of two autonomous robots, equipped with sensors and actuators that enable the objective of playing football. They are, however, limited in size and may not exceed 22 cm in diameter and height. An infrared pulsed signal-emitting ball is now used in the two leagues that currently exist, which differ in the types of field: whilst both fields are 122x183 cm, in league (A), the oldest, there are no sidelines or goal lines and playing against the walls is allowed, whereas in league (B), most recent, the ball can be ‘out’ and there is room for replacements. Currently, the field is green with a yellow and a blue goalpost, introducing colour as a possible orientation facility for the robots in the field.

This exciting competition, full of strategies, tactics and goals, also features the usual referee, the only human participant. Additionally, fair play between the teams prevails throughout the game.

This competition qualifies the Portuguese teams for the RoboCupJunior Soccer competition in RoboCup2016 to be held in Leipzig, Germany. RoboCupJunior is a RoboCup event oriented strand of innovative educational projects for young students under 19 years of age.

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Coordinating Team

Filipe Fernandes, IPB, fmfilipe@ipb.pt
Jaime Rei, AESG, jaime.rei@portugalmail.pt
José Barbosa, IPB, jbarbosa@ipb.pt

This competition uses mobile robots to quickly and accurately identify victims in catastrophe scenarios/simulations. The complexity of these scenarios increases from moving in a straight line on a flat surface (Rescue Line) to moving between walls (Rescue Maze) and through paths with obstacles, line interruptions and slopes until robots reach an area where the victims can be placed randomly in an open field.

The competition encompasses two distinct age groups, 8-14 and 15-19 years-old, and it qualifies the Portuguese teams for the RoboCup Junior Rescue competition in RoboCup2016, to be held in Leipzig, Germany. RoboCup Junior is a RoboCup event oriented strand of innovative educational projects for young students under 19 years of age.

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Coordinating Team

Adriano Ferreira, IPB, a.ferreira@ipb.pt
Carlos Amorim, ESPE, carlosamorim@espe.pt
Nelson Rodrigues, IPB, nrodrigues@ipb.pt

FreeBots Junior is a competition challenging students of elementary, middle and vocational schools to present the robots they developed (with innovative features), in the form of a technical presentation and public demonstrations. The scope of the demos encompasses physical robots (one or more), mobile or not, land, aquatic or aerial. The acceptance of teams/demos may be limited due to the availability of technical conditions at the site.

Each demo will be evaluated by a jury of individuals with a strong background on robotics with respect to their: technical-scientific quality; creativity; capability to present the solution to the public; and quality and success of the demo. The top team will be declared the winner of the competition.

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Coordinating Team

João Paulo Coelho, IPB, jpcoelho@ipb.pt
Pedro Lima, IST, pal@isr.tecnico.ulisboa.pt
Rodrigo Ventura, IST, rodrigo.ventura@isr.tecnico.ulisboa.pt

In the 2D Simulation League, two teams of 11 simulated autonomous software programs (called agents) play soccer in a two-dimensional virtual soccer stadium represented by a central server, called SoccerServer. This server knows everything about the game, i.e. the current position of all players and the ball, the physics and so on.

Each player receives relative and noisy input of his virtual sensors (visual, acoustic and physical) and is able to perform some basic commands (like dashing, turning or kicking) in order to influence its environment.

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Coordinating Team

Abbas Abdolmaleki, UA
Rui Fernandes, IPB, rvpf@ipb.pt

The 3D Simulation competition increases the realism of the simulated environment used in the 2D Simulation League by adding an extra dimension and more complex physics. The virtual robot used in the 3D simulator is based on the Nao humanoid robot from Aldebaran robotics, the robot that is used in the Standard Platform League since 2008.

Using the same model for the simulation competitions represents a great opportunity for researchers wanting to test their algorithms and ideas before trying them into the real robots. A match is played by two teams of eleven players and consists of two halves of five minutes each.

Rules

Coordinating Team

Abbas Abdolmaleki, UA
Rui Fernandes, IPB, rvpf@ipb.pt

In the Standard Platform League, soccer is played with a standardized robot platform, i.e. all teams compete with identical robots and only differ in the software they developed. The robots operate in a fully autonomous way, such that there is no external control by humans or computers. However, the robots can communicate with their teammates and receive the decisions of the referee via wireless communication.

Each game is composed of two 10-minute halves. In these games, teams of five robots play against each other on a 9m x 6m field.

The current standard platform used is the humanoid H25 NAO or H21 NAO manufactured by Aldebaran Robotics. The H25 NAO robot has 25 actuated joints – five in each leg, five in each arm, one in each hand, two in its neck, and one in its hip. In its head, two cameras are integrated for perceiving the environment. In its chest, sonar sensors can measure distances to other object on the field. In its feet there are sensors to measure ground contact and the contact with the ball. One accelerometer with three axis and two gyroscopes each with one axis allow measuring the pose of the robot’s torso.

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Coordinating Team

Abbas Abdolmaleki, UA
Rui Fernandes, IPB, rvpf@ipb.pt

FreeBots is a competition challenging the research and development community, worldwide, to present their research results in the form of a technical presentation and a public demo. The scope of the demos encompasses physical robots (one or more), mobile or not, land, aquatic or aerial. The acceptance of teams/demos may be limited due to the availability of technical conditions at the site.

Each demo will be evaluated by a jury of prominent individuals with a strong connection to robotics with respect to their: technical-scientific quality; application potential; capability to present the solution to the public; and quality and success of the demo. The top team will be declared the winner of the competition.

Rules

Coordinating Team

João Paulo Coelho, IPB, jpcoelho@ipb.pt
Pedro Lima, IST, pal@isr.tecnico.ulisboa.pt
Rodrigo Ventura, IST, rodrigo.ventura@isr.tecnico.ulisboa.pt

The Autonomous Driving competition constitutes a medium complexity technical challenge in which a mobile, autonomous robot must traverse a route along a closed track which resembles a conventional road.

The track attempts to replicate a real scenario, but the competition takes place in a structured and controlled environment. The track, with an eight-format, simulates a two-way road with a zebra-crossing, a pair of traffic lights (one in each direction), a tunnel, a working zone, traffic signs, an obstacle and a parking area with one free space and one occupied space. The position of the obstacle on the track and the free place of the parking area are unknown to the robot at the beginning of each run.

The competition has three rounds that take place over three consecutive days, during which complexity is progressively increased through the addition of new challenges. In all three rounds the robots start from the zebra-crossing, after the "go ahead" signal is displayed on the traffic light, and has to complete two laps around the track.

In addition to identifying the traffic light displayed by the panel, the first round only requires movement control of the robot along the track. The robot must complete two laps on the track as fast as possible. In this first round, the tunnel, the obstacle, the working zone and the traffic signs are not present.

The second round requires the robot to identify one of five different signals displayed by the dashboard light (simulating the traffic lights) and to react accordingly. The signs, shown through a TFT 17" screen, may indicate that the robot must stop, move towards one of two possible directions (left or straight ahead), that the race has ended or that it should initiate the parking maneuver. In the second round, robots must also avoid an obstacle, which is obstructing one of the ways in an unknown location. The obstacle must be detected and the robot must avoid it by following the track, without leaving it.

Finally, in the third round, two additional challenges are included: a tunnel, that covers part of the course, and a non-structured part of track called 'working zone'. The tunnel has significant impact in light conditions, therefore requiring a shift in the navigation style of the robot. The working zone imposes a different route that is unknown a priori. The new route is marked by colored cones (orange and white, similar to traffic cones but smaller), connected through a red/white plastic strip. In this area, the robot must leave the normal track and follow the new path, without touching any of the elements that bounds it, and re-enter the track area where the working zone ends.

Since 2011, a simplified variant of the competition was introduced, which is called ROOKIE CLASS. This version of the competition includes two phases:

The first phase is a simple speed test - the robot must complete two laps on the track as fast as possible.

The second phase is played in rounds, with two teams competing at once in pursuit-mode. Only the fastest teams will compete in the second phase. The winning teams move into the next round and consecutively to the final.

A team is typically composed of a maximum of six elements, but can integrate extra elements by paying an additional amount per element.

A single institution may register multiple teams. Teams representing educational institutions should be mainly formed by students from this institution but may include teachers or former students.

Rules

Coordinating Team

Armando Sousa, FEUP/INESCTEC
Artur Pereira, UA, artur@ua.pt
José Augusto Carvalho, IPB, jac@ipb.pt

he Robot@Factory aims to recreate the challenges and difficulties that an autonomous robot faces when used in a factory. This factory consists of a supply warehouse, a warehouse of finished product and eight processing machines.

The goal of the competition is to have the robot transfer boxes among warehouses and machines in minimum time.

The mentioned boxes have to be picked-up, transported and correctly placed by the robot that must be able to perform localization, navigation and collision avoidance.

The competition takes place in three rounds that present increasingly difficult challenges. This challenge allows for a gradual transition, in terms of task complexity and technical knowledge requirements, between the junior and major leagues, such as autonomous driving.

Rules

Coordinating Team

José Gonçalves, IPB/INESCTEC, goncalves@ipb.pt
Paulo Costa, FEUP/INESCTEC