Team-Sync since December 2024

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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!

RoboCup 2024: Review

Posted on by

Tournament

In our Division A of the Small Size League of RoboCup this year, nine teams from five countries competed against each other. A special feature was the two newcomers RobôCIn and luhbots, who this year made the step from Division B to a larger field and more robots in Division A. After three setup days, the teams first competed in a 4-team and 5-team group during the two group match days. The top three teams from each group then advanced to the knockout phase over the next two match days. By securing second place in our group, we were able to secure a good starting position here. In the double elimination mode, the respective group winners and runners-up could each lose once without being eliminated from the tournament. Thanks to our good performances on the field, we managed to secure a solid third place for our team despite many games in the lower bracket. Second place went to the Chinese team ZJUNlict and the current and past world champion is TIGERs Mannheim. A special mention should definitely go to the two new teams who managed to play exciting and balanced games against long-standing Division A teams almost right from the start. Particularly, the fourth place of RobôCIn is an extremely strong performance. At this point, we would also like to expressly thank luhbots, Immortals, RoboTeam Twente, RobôCIn, and TIGERs Mannheim for their help and extraordinary commitment to the league. This is by no means a matter of course.

 

Our Team in the Tournament

For us, the RoboCup started off quite bumpy again, and the first fears arose that we might experience a similar disaster to 2023 in Bordeaux. Fortunately, this was not the case. Instead, we managed to solve individual problems step by step. During the setup days and our first game, we still struggled considerably with our radio system and the control of the robots. But by the second game, we were already capable of fielding 11 robots. Nonetheless, we refrained from doing so in the group phase and fielded 8 robots each time. This was mainly because we were still plagued by overheating issues, and substitute robots were therefore extremely valuable.

For the knockout stage, we took a bold step and removed unnecessary parts from the module connector PCB and equipped our motor boards with heat sinks. Together with a relentless hunt for individual faulty robot components, we were able to increase the reliability of our fleet so that we could permanently field 11 robots in the knockout phase. This is a strong performance by the entire team, and we are excited about what the future holds with the now fully functional robots. Thus, we can conclude this RoboCup, tired from the strenuous days, but satisfied with our progress and success.

 

Betting Game

A novelty this year was the betting game we organized for RoboCup 2024. Just like in conventional football, bets could be placed on individual games, the outcome of the group phase, and the overall tournament. The most points were collected by our team members Michi and Mike, who stayed at home. Due to the great support from other teams, we plan to set up an official betting game for RoboCup next year.

 

Impressions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RoboCup 2025

Now that RoboCup 2024 in Eindhoven has ended and all teams have departed, we look to the future. We look forward to an interesting year with many improvements and innovations in our strategy and robots, as well as visits from other teams. But of course, our main focus is on the next RoboCup 2025. It will take place from July 15 to July 21, 2025, in the Brazilian coastal city of Salvador. The first images of the location already make us excited for sun, warmth, and of course a RoboCup hall right next to one of Brazil’s beautiful beaches.

See you in Salvador!

 

RoboCup 2024: Knock-Out Games

Posted on by

Robot Testing

The new radio system and our robots’ control have finally been running stably since the last games. This is now the ideal starting point to increase the availability of other subsystems of our robot fleet. Between games, we use the time intensively to fix individual robots and validate changes in our strategy. By solving our overheating issues, we are now able to reliably maintain a fleet of 12 to 13 robots throughout an entire game. This means there are always robots available to substitute.

Wired Testing


An important building block for our increased fleet availability in games is a new way to test robots without using the radio system. Our firmware programmer Maxi has implemented a serial protocol to enable wired control of the robots. This allows us to test robots after repairs during games, reducing the risk of deploying defective robots.

Games

Right on time for the Knockout Stage, we had enough robots and a stable control setup to participate in games with 11 robots. Often, all 13 robots we brought along were ready for action, with enough substitute bots available for minor defects. Nevertheless, we could not overcome the superiority of TIGERs Mannheim and lost the first game in the Knockout Stage. A unique aspect of our tournament format is that the first loss does not mean immediate elimination; instead, we continue in the Lower Bracket until another loss there. We won our next game against RoboDragons, allowing us to proceed in the Lower Bracket. We also managed to defeat RobôCIn. With this victory, we secured our place in the Lower Final on Sunday. In this game against ZJUNlict, we unfortunately lost 0-1 after a strong performance. With this, we conclude RoboCup 2024 in 3rd place in Division A of the Small Size League.