Robotics is almost certainly one of the most intriguing topic in the advancement of science and technology today. The world we are living in today is changing in unprecedented ways, and with unimaginable speed. Up to now, most of the robots installed worldwide are being used in manufacturing process industries. Although the vast majority of robots today are used in factories, rapid advances in technology have enabled robots to automate many tasks in non-manufacturing industries such as agriculture, construction, health care, entertainment and education. Intelligent robots, dreamt about and seen only in science fictions, novels and movies, are becoming a reality. Although robotics has a relatively short history, within the next 10 years, it is envisaged that personal robots will enter our households, and become very much part of our everyday life, as mobile phones are today.
FIRA robot soccer began in 1995 and the first international championship was held at KAIST, Daejeon, Korea in 1996. The Federation of International Robot-soccer Association (or FIRA, in short) was founded in June 1997 with a basic goal of
taking the spirit of science and technology of robotics to the laymen and the younger generation, through the game of robot soccer.
Robot soccer can be portrayed as a competition of advanced robot technology within a confined space. It offers a challenging arena to the young generation and researchers working with autonomous mobile robotic systems.
Micro-Robot World Soccer Tournament (MiroSot) initiative gives a good arena for multi-agent research, dealing with research subjects such as cooperation protocol by distributed control, effective communication and fault tolerance, while having efficiency of cooperation, adaptation, robustness and being in real-time.
With the ever increase in number of robots in an industrial environment, scientists/technologists were often faced with issues on cooperation and coordination among different robots and their self-governance in a workspace. This has led to the developments in multi-robot cooperative autonomous systems. It is not a surprise that they started focussing on robot soccer also. Robot soccer makes heavy demands in all the key areas of robot technology, mechanics, sensors and intelligence. And it does so in a competitive setting that people around the world can understand and enjoy.
taking the spirit of science and technology of robotics to the laymen and the younger generation, through the game of robot soccer.
Robot soccer can be portrayed as a competition of advanced robot technology within a confined space. It offers a challenging arena to the young generation and researchers working with autonomous mobile robotic systems.
Micro-Robot World Soccer Tournament (MiroSot) initiative gives a good arena for multi-agent research, dealing with research subjects such as cooperation protocol by distributed control, effective communication and fault tolerance, while having efficiency of cooperation, adaptation, robustness and being in real-time.
With the ever increase in number of robots in an industrial environment, scientists/technologists were often faced with issues on cooperation and coordination among different robots and their self-governance in a workspace. This has led to the developments in multi-robot cooperative autonomous systems. It is not a surprise that they started focussing on robot soccer also. Robot soccer makes heavy demands in all the key areas of robot technology, mechanics, sensors and intelligence. And it does so in a competitive setting that people around the world can understand and enjoy.
FIRA consists of a group of Robot-Soccer events such as
- HUROSOT
- KHEPERSOT
- NAROSOT
- QUADROSOT
- ROBOSOT
- SIMUROSOT
- MIROSOT
The most popular among these is undoubtedly MIROSOT. It has gained immense popularity among under-graduate students. It involves a lot of technological aspects such as Image Processing, Object Detection, Close field communication, co-ordination, Artificial Neural network to name a few.
With the birth of The Micro-Robot Wold Cup Soccer Tournament (MiroSot), a new interdisciplinary research area emerged, where scientists and technologists from diverse fields like, robotics, intelligent control, communication, computer technology, sensor technology, image processing, mechatronics, artificial life, etc., work together to make the multi-robot systems a reality. The robots used in MiroSot are small in size (7.5cm x 7.5cm x 7.5cm), fully/semi autonomous and without any human operators. MiroSot involves multiple robots that need to collaborate in an adversarial environment to achieve specific objectives.
In multi-robot systems, other robots in addition to the uncertainty that may be inherent in the domain, can determine the environment's dynamics. They have dynamic environments as other robots intentionally affect the environment in unpredictable ways. The key aspect being the need for robots not only to control themselves, but also to track and control the
ball which is a passive part of the environment. The interesting theoretical issue behind MiroSot experiments is the use of soccer as a prototype example of a complex, adaptive system. MiroSot is a new interdisciplinary research area, where scientists and technologists from diverse fields like, robotics, intelligent control, communication, computer technology, sensor technology, image processing, mechatronics, artificial life, etc., can work together to make the multi-robot systems a reality.
With the birth of The Micro-Robot Wold Cup Soccer Tournament (MiroSot), a new interdisciplinary research area emerged, where scientists and technologists from diverse fields like, robotics, intelligent control, communication, computer technology, sensor technology, image processing, mechatronics, artificial life, etc., work together to make the multi-robot systems a reality. The robots used in MiroSot are small in size (7.5cm x 7.5cm x 7.5cm), fully/semi autonomous and without any human operators. MiroSot involves multiple robots that need to collaborate in an adversarial environment to achieve specific objectives.
In multi-robot systems, other robots in addition to the uncertainty that may be inherent in the domain, can determine the environment's dynamics. They have dynamic environments as other robots intentionally affect the environment in unpredictable ways. The key aspect being the need for robots not only to control themselves, but also to track and control the
ball which is a passive part of the environment. The interesting theoretical issue behind MiroSot experiments is the use of soccer as a prototype example of a complex, adaptive system. MiroSot is a new interdisciplinary research area, where scientists and technologists from diverse fields like, robotics, intelligent control, communication, computer technology, sensor technology, image processing, mechatronics, artificial life, etc., can work together to make the multi-robot systems a reality.
Here is a video of the Mirosots in action :
Here are a few pictures from the FIRA events for reference:
There are lots of resources available to learn and build these amazing robots. You can check out the official FIRA website for details. A few others are:
1) Warwick Mobile Robotics
2) Robo-Erectus
A lot of robot enthusiasts have uploaded their works and papers on how they have improved the processing and control of the robots.
1) Soccer robot design for FIRA MiroSot League
2) A DSP based soccer-robot for FIRA Mirosot
3) Dr. Prahlad Vadakkepat - Robotah
4) A vision system for Mirosot - IITK
5) Development of a fully autonomous team of collaborating agents capable of playing soccer - Anusheel Nahar
And of course, there is always Google Search. FIRA 2010 is being hosted in Bangalore, INDIA. For those of you who are interested to read more or even take part in this competition, be sure to check out : FIRA 2010
