RoboCup Junior

Overview

RoboCup Junior is closely related to the RoboCup autonomous robotic soccer competition.

RoboCup Junior introduces the aims and goals of the RoboCup project to the primary and secondary school aged level (typically persons under 18 years of age).

Those involved create and build robots in a variety of different challenges, and compete against other teams.

The project is run by volunteers on an international level, nationally within many different countries around the world and even locally amongst schools in the same city/region.

History

RoboCup Junior started back in 1998 with a demonstration held at the RoboCup international competition held in Paris, France. In 1999, an interactive workshop was held at the RoboCup international competition in Stockholm, Sweden. The following year in 2000, the first international RoboCup Junior competition was held in Melbourne, Australia.

Comments from notary persons

The prime minister of Australia, John Howard, was impressed in 2001 when he visited students competing in a RoboCup Junior Australia competition, congratulating both teachers and students for their accomplishments.

Queen Elizabeth II was also impressed in 2002 on a trip to Australia, pointing out the complexity of what students were accomplishing.

International competitions

Each year, an international competition is run around the same time, and at the same location, as the RoboCup competition. The location changes each year, and in the past has seen events held at:

2000 - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (first year of competition)
2001 - Seattle, Washington, United States of America
2002 - Fukuoka, Japan
2003 - Padova, Italy
2004 - Lisbon, Portugal
2005 - Osaka, Japan

Soccer challenge

Two teams each place two autonomous robots (which they have designed and created) on a playing field. The aim of the game is for each team of robots to play a fully autonomous game of soccer. The ball is a plastic sphere containing infrared light-emitting diodes. Robots detect infrared emissions and use this as well as other sensors to move the ball around the field in attempt to score goals.

The field is just under 3 metres in length, and has a greyscale pattern on the surface of the field. Robots can use this pattern to determine where they are located on the field, and to determine which direction they are facing. In recent times, some robots have used more sophisticated methods such as sonar and electronic compasses.

Robots can be sized up to 220 millimetres in diameter, and can be up to 220 millimetres in height. There is a set of rules for robot design that is updated each year, but generally it is not overly restrictive. This has been shown over the years RoboCup Junior has been running by the many creative and innovative robot designs produced.

When RoboCup Junior was first formed, almost all teams used Lego Mindstorms construction kits to build their robots. In more recent years of the competition, a small proportion of teams have been using more advanced technology and designs in their robots. Custom printed circuit boards, microchips, actuator devices, multiple programming languages and other electronic, electrical, mechanical and software systems have all featured in new robot designs. Such technologies are often associated with university aged students undertaking engineering degrees, due to their complexity and specialist nature.

Rescue challenge

The aim of this challenge is for teams to design a robot which can navigate a playing field to rescue an object in the midle. The team is unaware of the layour and positioning of the field, and the robot must therefore autonomously follow a line on the playing field to find the object. Once the object is found, the robot picks up the object and takes it back to safety. This whole process is timed, and the team which can complete the task quickest is announced the winner.

Dance challenge

A team creates both a robot and a dance composition. The aim of the competition is to have a decorated robot dance to music. Team members can join in to dance alongside the robot. A panel of judges decides the winner based on a number of different criteria. The dance competition is most popular amongst younger students, mostly of primary school age.

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