Servo - September 2007

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.