RoboCup

In the RoboCupJunior soccer challenge, teams of two autonomous mobile robots compete against another team in matches. They must look for an infrared-light-emitting ball, trying to score into a color-coded goal in a special field built in a way that resembles the actual field for human soccer. Robots are required to have full autonomy from humans, technical designs, and ingenious programming by their developers.

Participants of this challenge are required to give the best of their abilities in programming, robotics, electronics and mechatronics, but also to contribute on teamwork and knowledge sharing with other participants, regardless of culture, age or result in the competition. All are expected to compete, learn, have fun and grow up.

The changes determined by the Technical Committee for this year’s rules aimed to favor skills over brute force in the games, with safer conditions for both robots and humans. The rules better work out situations of aggressive robots that cause damage to IR balls, robots and fields; control unrealistic kicker force that cause damage to IR balls and referees; and reduce the excessive need for human intervention in a stressful attempt to maintain game continuity.

Construction and programming have to be performed exclusively by the students.

Robots must be constructed and programmed exclusively by student members of the team. Mentors, teachers, parents or companies should not be involved in the programming and debugging of robots. To avoid embarrassment and possible disqualification, it is extremely important that teams abide by League Regulations 2.3 and 2.4. If in doubt, please consult with your regional representative before registering your team.

These are the official rules for Western Canada RoboCup Junior 2018 based on the 2015 RoboCup junior rules.

The mission of the Rescue Challenge can be seen as a real-word disaster, such as an avalanche, where the rescue personnel in place need robotic assistance in dangerous areas.

The robot has to be fully autonomous and carry out the mission with no help. This means that it must handle rough terrain (speed bumps) without getting stuck and cross snowstorms (gap in the line) where you can't see the road you're trying to follow. The robot also has to have the ability to climb mountains (the ramp).

When the robot finally finds the victim (a soda can) they have to carefully transport it to a safe area (evacuation point) where humans can take over.

RoboCupJunior On-stage Challenge allows teams to create a one- to two-minute creative stage performance using autonomous robots that the teams have designed, built and programmed. Teams can choose to create either a dance or a theatre performance:

• "Dance" is a performance closely synchronized to the music. The robot(s) and humans are required to move in time to the beat or rhythm of the music selected in the same way that a human may listen to the beat of music and dance to it. The assessment focuses on the choreography and movement of robot(s) and humans synchronization to music beats.
• "Theatre" is a performance in which the robots tell a story or develop a theme supported by music. Theatre assessment is focused on the overall theatrical performance. The performance will be judged by how effectively the robot(s) are used to present a theatrical theme. Examples: nursery rhymes, movie-inspired performance, sporting theme, sustainability theme, etc.