We are the HTWK Robots - a robotics football team that participates in RoboCup Standard Platform League. Here, all teams compete with identical robots that operate autonomously during gameplay.
In 2018, we won the RoboCup in Montréal. As of 2023, we are the vice world champion.
We knew we'd have to play against them eventually, and so our second game made good on that promise. A rematch from last year's final, the RoboCup groundhog day, it's
HTWK Robots vs. B-Human
We knew it was going to be a tough one, and it was. Still working on adapting to the new environment and it's lighting conditions, well, let's say this game laid out a roadmap of what we needed to do moving forward - an upside to having to play against a strong team very early on. If all went well after this, we could be pretty certain to see them again in the final.
This match also featured the visual referee challenge, Ayleen from B-Human tells us all about it at the beginning of the video.
I had already alluded to it - this game did not go too well for us, hence the title of this post. Not exactly shocking, but certainly always a bummer, it's an exercise in humility being reminded of the work ahead. At the end of the video, Thomas, one of our founding team members, gives us a little insight on what we needed to fix over the following days, in German!:
And yes, I will be refining my green screening technique and learn how to keep people in focus, I'm sorry Thomas!
Starting today, we'll take a look at the matches we had during RoboCup 2023. I'll call it RoboCup '23 Review for now, copyright pending. We filmed all our matches and of course, we want to make them available to you. Let's start chronologically:
From the Outback to the Outdoor Field
Match 1 against rUNSWift
The Australian team from the University of New South Wales (UNSW, hence the brilliantly punny name) is a force to be reckoned with. A third place at last year's RoboCup in Bangkok means a certain challenge - especially due to it being our first game of the tournament under less-than-ideal conditions. This time around, two fields were labeled Outdoor Fields and while we weren't granted some fresh air - too bad! - the lighting certainly put everyone through a stress test. The washed out contrasts between turf and lines was pretty disorienting for the Naos - the poor guys didn't even know where to look much less than where to shoot some of the time. On the plus side, the lighting made them look pretty metal before I figured out how to adjust my filming on the fly (for the most part):
An incredibly unfortunate own goal (from rUNSWift's perspective at least) during the first half gave rise to
some confusion - was it the refs fault? Was the rUNSWift player in
question bribed? And what role did the fallen robot lying around play?
Well, you'll have to see for yourself.
I also interviewed Mikhail, the team leader of rUNSWift - he'll give you some insight into what they were working on and what to watch out for before the video starts, he's a pretty cool guy!
During the half time break, there is another special treat: Our very own team leader Rico explains how rUNSWift had already lost the game on a technicality and how, at the same time, we still hadn't won.
B-Human won both the quarter and semi finals 10:0, at which time the game clock stops (the so-called mercy rule), so we knew we had our work cut out.
The game started with a bang, B-Human managed to score their first goal less than a minute after kicking off the game, followed by two somewhat lucky goals in quick succession.
After this, however, our robots finally kicked into gear and provided exciting game play. B-Human's precise passes, our steadfast defense. Some lucky shots making their way through multiple robots across the field, an audience cheering every move.
Half-time 0:3 - not too bad.
The 2nd half started similarly strong, except for our goalkeeper who decided that watching the audience was a better use of it's time. The other field players however executed a full-on attack on B-Human's goal, keeping the ball inside their penalty area for several minutes. Unfortunately none of the robots managed to get the ball over the line.
Then disaster struck: We somehow had used up all of our message budget (robots of each team are only allowed to send a limited number of data packets per game). Chaos. Our team wasn't able to talk to each other anymore, nobody knew who should go for the ball or defend the goal. B-Human instantly made use of the situation and scored one goal after another.
0:7, nearly 2 minutes to go. Time-out!
What can we do (given 5 minutes of time) to not end up with the dreaded mercy rule? One striker, one goalie. They don't need to talk, just play for time. Change the code, re-deploy on 2 of our robots. go!
Did it work? Yes! Was it one of the most fun ways to delay the inevitable? Definitely! Our 2 bots tried their best. Unfortunately our striker got a penalty soon after and had to watch from the sidelines for much of the remainder of the game. This meant everything was on our goalie's shoulders. He realized that the other bot had been penalized, moved ahead towards the kick-off... whistle... play... and he turned around to do what we had programmed: defend the goal. Of course we hadn't thought about that edge case during the 5 minutes of time-out. This however meant that B-Human had to wait until the kick-off time was over before they were able to touch the ball; another 10 seconds gained. B-Human managed to score the 0:9, 13 seconds on the clock, another kick-off for us, another slightly confused goalie pacing back and forth inside our half. 3 seconds to go, B-Human is allowed to enter the center circle. They try, but it's just noch enough time. Game finished! 0:9, no mercy rule, mission accomplished.
We're all super happy with the result and all the progress we made during the competition and are looking forward to the next time we meet all the other teams.
We'll upload various videos for which we just didn't have enough time in the coming days, so make sure that you subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/htwkrobots to get notifications!
We made it!!! After an extremely exciting and close match we won against HULKs from Hamburg.
In the first half we played in the more difficult direction, having the sun right in our eyes. But still, when the initial kick-off happened, we deployed our new "secret weapon". Our striker aligned itself at the ball and... shot deep into the opponent half. A move we haven't done in many years, being know as the "dribbling team". The HULKs, surprised by our sudden change in tactics, scrambled to get to their defensive positions while two of our robots marched ahead to continue the attack. After an exciting minute of hard-fought battles between our offense and HULKs' defensive players we scored the 1:0.
What happened in the remaining 9 minutes of the half? Just one exciting battle after the other, the ball moving back and forth, both teams getting advantages but each team's defense managing to fend off the attacks.
With a slight advantage of 1:0 we went into the half time break, finally catching a breath.
Before long, the second half got on its way and the exciting fights continued. With good chances on both sides we finally scored a freeing 2:0 after another 3 minutes of play. Soon however, the close continued fighting started showing its signs. Robots of both teams were close to overheating and had trouble keeping up with the pace of the game. Our robots seemed to fair slightly better allowing us to convert a few more chances for an exciting, yet exhausting 4:0.
Our robots (and us) can now cool down and prepare for the final against B-Human at 1:30pm.
You mised all the action or just want to rewatch this nail-biter of a match? Stay tuned for the video on our YouTube channel!
After our success in the quarter finals we continued fixing the last remaining bugs (just kidding, there will surely be more ;)) and also added a surprise feature for the last two remaining games tomorrow.
We'll face a very strong HULKs team at 9:45am in the morning followed by either the game for 3rd at noon or the final at 1:30pm.
Oh what a great game our second match with Romes SPQR was! After the first half, we were already ahead with 4:0, which is already quite a lead!
Then the second half went even better, ending the game with a nail-biting attack on SPQR. With only a few seconds on the clock, the ball was kicked over the goal line in the last second of the game, setting the score to 10:0! As this was our quarterfinal game, we are happy to announce to see you tomorrow for our semifinal!
Suspenseful matches and critical bug fixes on the fly marked our group phase of this year’s RoboCup. Still, we consider the first half of the competition a net positive since we won all of our matches except one.
The first game against our Australian colleagues from rUNSWift ended 3:0 for us. This match made us painfully aware that our robots have major problems standing back up and walking smoothly on the artificial turf. The stark lighting differences across the field didn’t help either. These issues also appeared in our second match against our old-time rival B-Human which we had to conclude 8:0. However, it was a match of 5 against 7 since all our other robots were getting their injuries treated at the Nao Clinic – that softened the blow a little. So we went into the night with many tasks on our hands: improving the walk, creating a new stand-up motion, rethinking team strategy among others. Throughout the next day, we applied more and more fixes to our code, and we were rewarded with a 7:0 against our friends from Frankfurt – the Bembelbots. On top of that, we managed a 4:0 against the Italian team SPQR in a truly spectacular match. Not everything ran smoothly (and of course we found more bugs) but we saw a steep increase in our robots’ performance. Shoutout to the HULKs who kindly lended us one of their best robot-bodies for the second half against SPQR after one of ours got badly damaged after a referee dropped it. The solution was quite easy – detach Deep Impact’s head from the damaged body and frankenstein it onto the HULK.
Today was the last game of the group phase, which we played against NomadZ from Zürich. With the newly implemented stand-up motion and 6 robots on the field, we managed to win the game 6:0. However, we discovered some problems with balancing, localization and line detection. All in all it seems like we are establishing a tradition: starting the RoboCup with major problems but improving our software over the following days to establish a reliable game play – a true Turniermannschaft. With confidence, excitement and a long list of To-dos we're looking forward to the hot phase of the competition – the Kick-Offs!
Later this afternoon, at 16:30 we will be playing in the quarter-finals agains the SPQR-Team from Italy. Join us live here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR9bmxi4EQ4. Seeing how the game we played yesterday played out, we anticipate an interesting match.
On our second day of competition at RoboCup2023 we had 2 games to play. The first in the not so early hours of the morning against our friends, the Bembelbots from Frankfurt. This game was packed with action and blinding light from the sun. In the end we managed to win this game 8 to 0.
Later in the afternoon we had a thrilling game against the SPQR-Team from Italy. In this game we could witness great defending, beautiful dribbling and a missed penalty kick. This game was closer than the one in the morning at 4 to 0 for us.As for every game, the edited match videos will be uploaded to our Youtube channel in the following days. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtF1RHsnDRkqDocerRjvfAQ
First, the good news: we won our first match against the Australian Team rUNSWift 3:0 and successfully competed in the Dynamic Ball Handling Challenge.
Then the not so good news: We lost our second game of the day against the very strong competitor B-Human from Bremen, Germany with a final score of 0:8. We want a rematch. Today! Right now! Or maybe, more realistically, on one of the next days of competition, which is fine too.
Still, we look forward to the next days of competition and will continue to improve our strategy and software, the next game will start tomorrow at 11am - against our friends from Frankfurt, the Bembelbots!, so stay tuned for that!
All games of the day will be uploaded to our YouTube Page, with additional Information and Interviews, see you tomorrow for another exciting day of robot Soccer action!
We won our first game of this year's Robocup in Bordeaux! After a good first half with one goal for us, there was a package violation on ruNSWift's side, deciding the game in our favor and making the second half more like a test or training game.
Nonetheless, an important step in this competition and in the limited time of the Robocup a much appreciated training session for our team! The cut video, containing interviews with team members of both competitors, will be live on our YouTube channel soon!
The next game of today will be against B-Human, there will also be a video of the game on our channel.
Also: Today we will compete in the Dynamic Ball Handling Challenge, which is all about passing the ball precisely over long distances
Today is the first game day and the matches have already begun! In our first match, we'll face off against rUNSWift from the University of New South Wales in Syndey, Australia. Unfortunately, there is no live stream on the outdoor field but not to fret: we're capturing everything and are even including a short interview with Mikail from rUNSWift as well as our own review and analysis!
A
day's worth of train travelling, abandoned luggage, the subsequent
terror warning and the just about baaaaaaarely avoided threat of
having to stand for 2 hours from Paris to Bordeaux can't dim our
sparkle:
We. Are.
Back. At. RoboCup!
That's right, one year after last year's showdown in Bangkok we're
back! Not necessarily with a vengeance, but with a deep commitment to
climbing back to the top and a vivid memory of a spectacular run but
losing the final. If that amounts to being back with a vengeance,
then that might be true, I can't tell. Either way, we were certainly
busy these pasts months: adding new functionalities, optimizing what
we already had and even building our own training machines. Our team
has also noticeably grown over the past few months and that strength
is certainly coming in handy now - as per usual, we are moving heaven
and hell: our schedule certainly is tight and our ambitions ever so
high. Will we be able to transcend our previous success? Well, let's
take a look at some of what we got:
And the league said There shall
be a larger team and the teams said Okay
"This year's updated rules called for a complete overhaul of
our team strategy", says Rico, our team leader: "The
constantly decreasing data budget during game play isn't a new
development but having to coordinate seven robots on the field is
certainly more than just a incremental adjustment". With
fourteen robots on the field there is bound to be some rough play -
something we're well acquainted with. Running dynamic maneuvers,
making interdependent decisions within the team - a sizable project
but indispensable for a successful tournament. We can be sure our
competitors won't just be skipping this part. But with our reaction
times shortened and our communication channels streamlined, we are
now more efficient than ever.
Resurrection of an old friend
Another major improvement takes us back to our roots: something as
seemingly simple as walking remains an integral part of a successful
RoboCup campaign. Sleep on improving your stability and speed and
you’ll wake up on the ground – struggling to get up, struggling
to pay for repairs. Hence, optimization on this end has to be done
with special attention to robot safety. We built a special
contraption to aid us in this, long time followers might remember
it’s spiritual predecessor.
Tobias, who worked on the walking optimization and designed it in
a way so that it can be operated remotely explains how we approached
the project: “We’re using a black box optimizer, building on
substantial advances in research of the past years. Our System tests
out various parameter sets and we’re sending back feedback on how
successful this attempt was. In this way, our program learns
interdependencies and explores the parameter space.” Thomas, who
designed the first ever walking algorithm for our team, adds: “We’re
mainly focused on stability here. Speed is another option, but it’s
always a trade-off”.
Right now, we’re on day 2 of preparation and test games are
being played all around us before the actual RoboCup starts tomorrow.
Stay tuned!
Wir sind auf diesen Freitag (23.06.2023) auf der Langen Nacht der Wissenschaften in Leipzig. Hier geht's zum Programm.
Update: Hat richtig Spaß gemacht und wir konnten viele BesucherInnen aller Altersklassen für die Naos begeistern und auch mit der Vorfreude auf die Weltmeisterschaft anstecken. Hier ein Einblick:
Zur Vorstellung des KEDi als zentrale Anlaufstelle für Unternehmen aus der Industrie und dem Gebäudesektor gab es zahlreiche Impulsvorträge aus Industrie, Wissenschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft zum Thema und den konkreten geplanten Vorhaben. Das Rahmenprogramm wurde von Technologieorganisationen aus der Region gestaltet wie bspw. dem MITZ Merseburg oder uns.
Stets motiviert die phantastische Welt des Roboterfußballs der Übrigen näher zu bringen sind wir mit 3 Robotern und einem kleinen Spielfeld angereist und haben uns und den RoboCup vorgestellt. Die Teilnehmenden konnten selbst einen Nao mit einem Controller steuern, versuchen Tore zu schießen und dabei über den Bildschirm mitverfolgen, wie die Roboter über ihre Kameras das Spielfeld und den Ball erfassen. Parallel dazu ließen wir die neuesten Videos von der GORE laufen, um zu zeigen, wie das Ganze aussieht, wenn alles autonom geschieht und ein gegnerisches Team den eigenen Spielalgorithmen in die Quere kommt.
Neben dem Fachsimpeln über Computervision, Neuronale Netze und KI konnten wir uns auch mit interessanten Veranstaltungsteilnehmenden austauschen und vernetzen und natürlich auch auf die großzügige Einladung ans Buffet eingehen. Nach circa 2,5 Stunden über die Pausen der KEDi-Eröffnung verteilt war der Spaß auch schon wieder vorbei und wir machten uns auf den Rückweg nach Leipzig. Wir danken der DENA für die Einladung und wünschen dem KEDi bei ihren wichtigen und zukunftsweisenden Aufgaben viel Erfolg!
Die GORE 2023 ist vorbei und wir haben es geschafft - das Turnier, den zweiten Platz und uns selbst auf jeden Fall auch. Nach ein paar aufregenden und produktiven Tagen standen wir im Finale gegen den altbekannten Gegner B-Human - dieses Mal im 7-gegen-7. Bis inklusive Halbfinale hatten wir Material und Nerven geschont und waren nicht in Vollbesetzung aufgelaufen. Für das Finale jedoch gingen wir aufs Ganze und spielten alle Karten aus: neue Formation, neue Teamstrategie, neues Alles.
In der ersten Hälfte konnten wir durchaus Druck aufbauen und das erste Viertel ebenbürtig bestreiten - Hier und da gab es für beide Chancen, jedoch konnte niemand verwandeln. Als unsere Roboter dann doch vereinzelt ausfielen, konnte das Team die zahlenmäßige Überlegenheit der Bremer nicht auffangen. Die erste Hälfte endete mit 3:0 und auch in der zweiten Hälfte war nicht mehr rauszuholen. Der strahlende Sonnenschein im CFEL in Hamburg sorgte zusätzlich für Verwirrung und damit war unser Schicksal für dieses Match besiegelt. Mit 7:0 verabschieden wir uns aus dem Wettbewerb und blicken auf den kommenden RoboCup in Bordeaux und was wir bis dahin noch alles machen wollen.
Hier findet ihr das Video zum Nachschauen - ganz im Geiste unserer fußballerischen Leistung haben wir auch hier ein paar neue Tricks und Kniffe ausprobiert. Lasst mich gerne wissen, wie wir die Videos noch weiter verbessern können!
Ich habe die Designs noch ein bisschen aufgehübscht - so langsam wird was draus! (Auch wenn ich beim ersten Hochladen die linke GoPro ausgeblendet hatte - Danke für den Hinweis!)
Morgen heißt es: Halbfinale gegen die R2-Kickers! Das Video kommt so flott wie möglich, drückt uns die Daumen!
Für das zweite Spiel haben wir eine Anfangstafel mit Informationen zum gegnerischen Team und unserer eigenen Auftstellung eingefügt. Lasst gerne Anregungen da, was wir als nächstes einbauen sollen!
Wir sind gerade auf der GORE in Hamburg und kämpfen mit 9 anderen Teams um den Deutschen Meistertitel. Das läuft auch bisher ganz gut, konnten wir an den ersten zwei Spieltagen doch immerhin 2 von 3 Spielen für uns entscheiden. Zunächst trafen wir im Eröffnungsspiel auf die Dortmunder Nao Devils. Nach einer durchaus ausgeglichenen ersten Halbzeit mit spannenden Situationen (1:1) konnten wir uns aber doch in der zweiten Halbzeit durchsetzen und mit 5:1 unser erstes Spiel für uns entscheiden.
Doch praktisch schon am zweiten Tage stellt Bremen seine Gretchenfrage: Können wir dieses Mal B-Human schlagen? Zumindest für die Vorrunde ist da wohl die Antwort relativ klar Nein. Die Bremer deklassierten in ihren ersten 3 Spielen gleich alle ihre Gegner - ebenso auch uns und das 0:7 mussten wir leider hinnehmen.
Aufatmen konnten wir jedoch im dritten Spiel gegen Naova aus Montréal. Da klang wohl noch das Echo unseres letzten RoboCup Titels nach und wir konnten souverän ein 8:0 einspielen - teilweise nur noch mit einem einzelnen Nao auf dem Feld.
(Instagramstory mit einem unserer neuesten Teammitglieder Khanh nach dem verdienten Sieg über die Kanadier; für mehr quatschige und informative Liveberichterstattung einfach unserem Instagramkanal folgen: https://www.instagram.com/htwk.robots/)
Neue Regeln bei der GORE
Das altbekannte Lied der Regeländerungen zu jeder GORE wurde auch dieses Mal wieder gesungen. Weniger Daten, strengere Strafen für illegale Positionen und die Erhöhung der Spielerzahl von 5 auf 7 ändern den Spielverlauf durchaus substantiell. Dazu braucht es eine neue Teamstrategie und den dementsprechenden Willen jede freie Minute zum Coden einzusetzen. Unser Teamkapitän Rico fährt da schon mal zu Höchstleistungen auf und stampft spontan neue Innovationen aus dem Boden - was auch bei den neuesten Teammitgliedern mächtig Eindruck schindet.
Die wiederum unterstützen das Team in vielfältigster Weise - so zum Beispiel Lennart, der auf der GORE für das Filmen verantwortlich ist und auch als Assistenzschiedsrichter eingesetzt wird.
(Das Schiedsrichterteam mit 2 Nao Devils aus Dortmund, sowie Felix und Lennart von den HTWK Robots)
Die GORE läuft noch bis zum Sonntag und geht morgen Abend in die Hauptrunde. Bis dahin müssen wir noch 2 Vorrundenspiele bestreiten - beginnend mit einem Match gegen die Bembelbots aus Frankfurt um 9. Alle Spiele zum Nachschauen findet ihr auf unserem YouTube-Kanal: https://www.youtube.com/htwkrobots
