ROBOCUP 2007
DARwIn’s First S ccer Tournament
America’s First Entry to the Humanoid
Division of RoboCup
by DennisHONG, KarlMUECKE, RobertMAYO, JesseHURDUS, and BradPULLINS
RoMeLa: Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory,Virginia Tech
We are Virginia Tech’s RoboCup team “SPRInt” (Soccer Playing Robots with Intelligence) and we
just came back from RoboCup 2007. As you may remember, we were the only team that passed
the qualifications from the United Sates in the humanoid division in the RoboCup history and
our robot “DARwIn” (Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence) was featured recently on the
cover of SERVO Magazine (Vol. 4, No. 12). A three-part technical series about its development was
featured, as well. Nearly 300 teams from 33 countries geared up to compete at RoboCup 2007 in Atlanta
at the Georgia Institute of Technology July 3-10 and DARwIn fought hard against other teams from all
around the world. We were not able to advance to the finals, but we had a strong showing at the event.
At least we were the audience’s favorite (underdog) team — especially with DARwIn’s acrobatic moves!
We played one of the most entertaining games in RoboCup history. This is our story.
FRIDAY (Day 0)
After a long drive from Blacksburg, we arrived at Atlanta (Georgia Tech) late at night. Among VT’s RoboCup
team, only members Karl Muecke, Robert Mayo, Jesse Hurdus, Brad Pullins, and advisor Dr. Hong could attend the
competition due to a limited travel budget. We brought DARwIn 2A (goal keeper) and DARwIn 2B (striker) to be the
actual players for the competition, but we also brought DARwIn 1 just for exhibition. We pretty much stayed up all
night tweaking the walking gaits, calibrating the vision system, and putting the final touches to the robots. The campus
was filled with fellow robot enthusiasts from all around the world,
and you could feel the excitement in the air. It was going to be a very
interesting week.
Autonomous
humanoid robot
DARwIn 2B playing
soccer in the lab.
Members of
TEAM: SPRInt
from Virginia
Tech.
38 SERVO 09.2007