Rough play, attacking the robot playing the ball from behind, provoking throw-ins: it was all fair game in last year’s Middle Size League (MSL), the top event of the RoboCup. However, new rules will have the referees interfere sooner this year. And that’s beneficial to technical teams like that of TU/e.

This year, too, the Eindhoven students and researchers improved their team once again to stay ahead of their competition. On a software level, they improved their long ground pass as well as their ‘tiki-taka’ maneuvers. The robots now have larger batteries that charge faster, as the old batteries were often a serious problem in overtime.

The RoboCup Portugal Open is held in Villa Real in northern Portugal. It’s the only RoboCup tournament in Europe for the Middle Size League this year. The robots play fully independently, without being controlled by humans. The finals will be held on Sunday, April 12.

TU/e care robot AMIGO will be competing in the @Home Competition at the German Open RoboCup in Magdeburg, Germany held April 24-26. Last year, AMIGO came in second. For the @Home Competition, robots have to carry out household tasks fully independently.

The World RoboCup Championship will be held in the megacity of Hefei, China, from July 17-23. The Eindhoven soccer team hopes to prolong their world title in China, after winning the 2012 Cup in Mexico City and the 2014 edition in Brazil. TU/e care robot AMIGO won a silver medal in the @Home competition at the 2014 World Cup.

Source: TU/e press team