Day 0 (but we're counting upwards so it's really just the beginning)

 

Genießen Sie Ihr Leben in vollen Zügen

RoboCup 2024 – we’re going to Eindhoven! Today, with palpable exictement in the air and lots of heavy equipment in our bags, the day had finally come – catch the train to Frankfurt – Düsseldorf – Herzogenrath – Heerlen – Eindhoven each time switching into a slower train. The last one felt like it was going backwards through the station, but that might just have been us – excited about the week ahead, we just couldn’t wait to get there. But apparently, we were not alone in that. Some trains Eindhoven-wards were so overfilled, they looked more like a RoboCup match with horrible lighting conditions in Round 1: everyone is really crowded and stumbling over each other, packages are getting lost everywhere, nothing is moving and the people in charge are trying to make sense while making sure noone breaks anything. We took one good look and knew – we’re better off taking the next train. That turned out to be the right idea – in the end, we arrived at the main station faster than otherwise. We were immediately greeted by RoboCup flags and posters everywhere! Eindhoven seems to be just as excited as we are.

Having made it to the Hotel, we quickly unpacked and went out for dinner and some final inspiration before the cup in form of the European Championship title match between Spain and England. Fun Fact: Our signature kick-off move is conincidentally identical to the back pass maneauver by Real Madrid. A case of true convergent software evolution! And the Spanish must be doing something right! So if that’s not a good omen, I don’t know what is!

Tomorrow, we’ll start our first of two set-up days before matches commence on Wednesday. The technical challenge concludes on Friday and the Main Round of the Champion’s Cup will keep us busy on the weekend. We’ll post the schedule, links to the live stream and more updates as we get them!