Please note: While we try to always keep the English blog up-to date, there might be some delay regarding when a German blog post gets translated. Also, articles prior to RoboCup 2022 do not have English translations. To see those articles in German, please switch to the German blog.
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RoboCup German Open 2025: ER-Force vs. TIGERs Mannheim
Now the time has finally come: The final match of the German Open will take place this Sunday at 12:30 PM between our team and the TIGERs Mannheim. After we were able to hold our ground quite well against the Mannheim team during this tournament, we can expect an exciting game here!
First Half
| 05:00 | Both teams are preparing for the match. Our team is playing as the yellow team with—believe it or not—ELEVEN robots, while the TIGERs are in blue, of course, also with 11 robots. |
| 05:00 | The match kicks off on time at 12:30 PM with a kickoff for TIGERs. But right away, a timeout for ER-Force due to issues with Ra and the radio connection. |
| 03:56 | There are intense duels between the ER-Force robots and those of TIGERs in our half. Our robots are giving it everything they’ve got. The result: One of our high-kick flaps goes flying through the air! |
| 03:41 | Another very tense situation right in front of our goal. The ball keeps getting passed back and forth between our defense and the attackers, but our defenders ultimately manage to defuse the situation! |
| 03:06 | After some maneuvers in the Mannheim half, they strike back with a counterattack, unfortunately resulting in a goal from the side! |
| ER-Force 0 : 1 TIGERs Mannheim | |
| 02:33 | The dangerous situations continue, but our robots are defending bravely so far. Both teams now have a yellow card, meaning only 10 robots are allowed to play! |
| 02:17 | Very well cleared by our goalkeeper! A throw-in by TIGERs near our penalty area turns into a dangerous attack on our goal, but the goalkeeper confidently defends with a chip kick. |
| 01:35 | This time, a small attack from our robots, with some of our field players showing great skills. Unfortunately, it does not result in a dangerous situation for the Mannheim team. |
| 00:46 | Our team is not showing any weaknesses: They relentlessly block every attempt to attack our goal. |
| 00:23 | A nice attack from our robots on the TIGERs’ goal, although the finishing power is lacking. The subsequent counterattack from Mannheim is successfully intercepted by our defense. |
| -00:02 | The last attack from Mannheim on our goal, but it doesn’t pose a real threat. With that, both teams head into the five-minute halftime break. |
Second Half
| 05:00 | Without switching sides, the second half begins with a kickoff by ER-Force. Will our team manage to equalize? |
| 04:42 | Strong defense by our goalkeeper! A powerful attack by TIGERs, but our goalkeeper clears the ball towards midfield! |
| 04:37 | But unfortunately, now: The immediate follow-up attack is successful, and TIGERs extend their lead to 2:0! |
| ER-Force 0 : 2 TIGERs Mannheim | |
| 03:46 | The dominance of TIGERs is clearly visible: The ball spends most of the time in our half. Nevertheless, we are holding our ground; despite the two conceded goals, our defense has been very strong so far! |
| 02:56 | Our defensive wall is rock solid: As soon as TIGERs find an opportunity for an attack, the wall closes in front of our goal and eliminates any danger. |
| 02:22 | A nice attack from our robots, but once again, we lack the finishing power to be truly dangerous! |
| 01:43 | What a scene in our penalty area! One attack on our goal after another, but with luck and relentless marking, we manage to prevent any further damage! |
| 00:53 | Our goalkeeper is as strong as ever and does not give up his goal easily! Unfortunately, we receive a red card after accumulating two active yellow cards and getting another one. A shame, as the first of these yellow cards would have expired in just four seconds. |
| -00:15 | After one last effort and an incorrect interruption by the AI referee, the game finally ends 2:0 in favor of Mannheim. |
Looking back, this match was a beautiful showcase of the current state of the Small Size League. In a very fluid game, both teams demonstrated their skills brilliantly.
Although TIGERs Mannheim dominated the match throughout, we still managed to launch attacks from time to time and defended even harder. As a result, we are still very satisfied with the outcome and take away many insights and opportunities for improvement for the next tournament, which will take place next week in Crailsheim!
German Open 2025
March has arrived, and as every year, it’s time for tournaments. Next week, 14 of our members will participate in the Freizeit-Messe in Nuremberg. The fair itself runs from March 12 to March 16, but our games won’t start until March 13. The German Open, a major robotics and AI tournament held as part of the Freizeit-Messe in Nuremberg, gives our members the opportunity to showcase their skills in exciting competitions.
By the way, the Schubert Cup will also take place in Crailsheim from March 21 to March 23, where you can find us as well!
In addition to us, TIGERs Mannheim, Immortals, and SeeGoals will also be participating in German Open. Moreover, from March 11 to March 13, the Embedded World will take place—another great reason to stop by. The Embedded World Exhibition & Conference is the international industry meeting point for the embedded community, bringing together leading experts, companies, and associations while offering deep insights into the world of embedded systems.
With the code “RCGO25” you can get discounted ticket prices on this page for only €11.
Team-Sync since December 2024
Our multi-day workshop is just around the corner and promises not only significant progress in a short amount of time but also plenty of team spirit! In addition to the intensive work on our projects, there will be joint cooking and dining to encourage exchange, as well as a relaxed game night for a bit of variety.
Before we kick off our workshop at the end of this week, here is a quick update on our current progress.
Electronics Subteam
New Funkmaster
Do you remember the MCon that we sawed apart at RoboCup? To restore the lost functionality, new ones have been ordered! We had some difficulties with the radio transceiver and its firmware, which is why we also ordered new devices. This not only solves the firmware issues but also eliminates the need to use two radio transceivers at the same time.
Another innovation: We can now measure location-dependent inductance, which significantly improves the movement of our pistons. We detailed this in this year’s ETDP. Additionally, our robots have been repaired and are now ready for the upcoming tournaments – set to get back into action!
Firmware Subteam
Firmware has 25 new radio modules from HBC, which will be picked up next week – this will greatly improve our communication. Data logging on the robot is now much faster, but the SD cards could still be a bottleneck. We made significant progress in dribbling: the new dribbler passed the tests successfully and runs very smoothly.
The absolute highlight is our new radio protocol, which we developed together with the software team. It will be a real breakthrough: precise position data, Kalman filter directly in the robot, and tracking that is more accurate than ever before. Instead of vague error messages, it now provides exact information like position, speed, and even ball control in real-time.
The data rate from HBC has already been increased, and the first parts of the protocol have been implemented – although not everything has been tested yet.
Mechanics Subteam
The mechanics team has arranged small gifts for our sponsors – a nice gesture of appreciation.
left: old dribbler, right: new dribbler
In addition, the coil measurement setup has been further improved, and a new version of the battery holder has been installed. The team is also working on finding more cost-effective manufacturing options for Omniwheels and selecting suitable bearings for the subwheels.
Another highlight: A dribbler prototype has been assembled – an exciting step forward!
Software Subteam
A software team member has written a paper in which a model for the kicker was developed to enable simulations and increase the kicker’s efficiency. Additionally, a new move was implemented that performs robot measurements and checks the driving accuracy of the robots using the field lines.
Besides the radio protocol, which was developed together with firmware, there were also a few experiments with machine learning, and a move was worked on that should enable the robot to dribble backward around opponents. Internally, the software was also revised to make everything even better and more efficient.
Team-Sync since RoboCup 2024
To keep you up to date between events, here’s a mid-update with the biggest happenings since the last RoboCup. Let’s jump right in with the …
Electronics Subteam
Theo with his new oscilloscope
If there’s one thing we’ve learned in recent years, it’s that our radio communication isn’t exactly the best. That’s why discussions about a new radio protocol are in full swing, and a new radio master is also being developed.
Furthermore, optimizations are being made everywhere to improve our efficiency in specific areas. Currently, we are improving our shooting mechanism and our battery management system.
In addition to a new oscilloscope (an electronic measuring device), which makes everyone involved very, very happy, the first steps toward a new generation are already underway.
Firmware Subteam
Meanwhile, the Firmware Subteam has a lot of ongoing projects. One goal is to improve our robots’ internal position estimation so that they can stay in one spot without the camera’s assistance. Currently, the robots move slightly and, so to speak, walk away from us.
We also want to improve how our robots store measurement data, as this data is unfortunately often lost. There’s nothing more frustrating than conducting a good test but only being able to use 60% of the data during evaluation.
The most significant innovation likely concerns dribbling. We’ve long wanted to implement actual dribbling rather than our “ER-Force dribbling,” where we push the ball along the housing. Since this has emerged as a major weakness during recent tournaments, we’re deeply focused on improving it.
Mechanics Subteam
On the left, the old wheels with O-rings; on the right, the new ones with X-rings
The Mechanics Subteam also worked on developing a new dribbler. But that’s not all, as the new generation and robot design are being planned here as well. However, the primary focus was laying the groundwork for the coming months. For example, we’ve equipped our new Omniwheels, which now have more Subwheels, with a new type of rings. This allows the robots to drive more smoothly.
Additionally, due to several damages in the basement, it has been cleared out, reorganized, and cleaned multiple times.
The funniest innovation is probably our new robot stands, as we are not allowed to take our old wooden ones overseas.
Software Subteam
As part of the new “dribbling” vision, the paths that the robots ultimately follow in strategy must be planned. To enable this, an interface between the calculation module and the robot module has been developed.
Additionally, we’re trying to incorporate machine learning into our strategy. For example, parameters are optimized automatically, or future scenarios are evaluated and executed optimally for us.
Anyone who has watched the TIGERs play knows that they have some victory moves. To counter this, we’ve also started working on victory dances of our own.
In addition to all this, the first preparations for the upcoming RoboCup 2025 and Schubert Cup 2025 are already underway. We’ve also already held a freshman workshop and the annual general meeting, where Christoph Schmidtmeier and Arthur Sahm were elected as our new board.
Finally, we wish you all happy holidays and a great start to the new year!
University Group Meeting & Open Lab Day
As every year, we will also participate in the University Group Meeting on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, at the Red Square of the Faculty of Engineering. We’ll have an information booth there all day, where we’ll share insights about Robotics and the RoboCup with anyone interested. Additionally, we’ll set up a small field where you can drive the robots manually.
We are also hosting our Open Lab Day on October 30, 2024. This will likely take place in the basement of the Blue Skyscraper at TechFak, where we’ll demonstrate our robots live in a test match against ourselves. You can learn more about this at the University Group Meeting or in an upcoming post.
Feel free to drop by at both events. We look forward to seeing you there!