Second day of the tournament – ​​group stage and elimination

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This morning was another very early start to the day, but a well-prepared Jakob had already gotten coffee and kindly shared it with the rest of the early birds. As for myself, I am very grateful — my brain really had trouble booting up this morning.

The reason for waking up early today wasn’t that we had to fix problems in a panic, but rather our 8:30 AM, Korean time, match against Ri-One.
By kickoff at the latest, even the late risers of our team reached the venue to celebrate our victory (2:0).
There were a few difficulties during the match set-up because the connection timeout —meaning the time we accept before it is reported whether a robot still has radio connection — was set incorrectly. But a short timeout right after the kickoff of the match was enough to quickly resolve the issue.

Despite connected robots and no further problems, the first half remained at 0:0. However, by increasing the time allowed for a pass or a pass reception during the break, we were quickly able to score one goal after another.
It was great to see that with a functioning connection to our robots, clearly recognizable plays of our strategy were observable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the result of this match, it is clear: We are second in our group and will therefore play next against the third-placed team of Group 2 at 3 PM local time (8 AM German time). Exactly which team that is has not yet been determined, as we observed a surprising victory by Luhbots against RoboCin.
RoboCin had problems with their robot connection and decided not to compete to avoid damage to their robots. This result throws the entire current group standings into uncertainty.

But what is certain is that we have gained momentum and are looking forward to the next match!

Stay tuned, it’s going to be exciting!

First day of the tournament – ​​Group stage

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A new day brings fresh motivation after a long evening yesterday. Our team was on-site as soon as the hall opened at 7:00 AM local time.
Although the official RoboCup has only just begun, the lack of sleep is starting to take its toll. Hence, our first order of business upon arriving at the hall was to track down some coffee.
Afterwards, a bit more awake, Jakob and Marko got ready to take on our first Ref + GCO slot at 8:30 AM. The schedule for the initial matches is already set, though network issues in the hall have caused significant delays for some games.

Our next match will presumably be at 11:30 AM against Tigers. Before that, we have a test slot at 10:30 AM to verify some final adjustments. We are all hoping our first official match goes better than yesterday’s friendly. That game was, unfortunately, a total disaster — plagued by our famous wireless connection issues. These stem from the Raspberry Pi chips, which scan surrounding networks to determine their location and ensure only legal frequencies are used. However, because the Teams in the hall use various routers configured for different countries, the 6 GHz band — which is crucial for us — is flagged as illegal, even though it is permitted in Korea. In classic ER-Force fashion, our solution is a case lined with aluminum foil to act as a Faraday cage, since the problem only occurs when the robots are booting up.

As always, things remain exciting right down to the last minute.

A livestream link is now available, if you click here, you can watch the matches live or catch up on previous games. For more details on match times, I also recommend checking the tournament schedule linked here.
We look forward to reading your comments in the streams.

Summary of the first days on RoboCup 2026 Incheon

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It’s that time again, RoboCup is starting. This year, our club has made the long journey to Incheon – Korea. Fortunately, we had hardly any problems with the security and weight checks for our robot cases during the trip. So we arrived safely at Seoul airport and subsequently at our hotel in Incheon. As they do every year, our board members found a great hotel where we could work on the robots, divided into our subteams, right up until the first day at the venue. We often joke that the hotel staff who take care of our rooms must find the strangest things in there. After all, how often do you take a Dremel or a soldering station with you on a trip…

Yesterday, Tuesday, was the first day we were allowed into the event hall. However, the fields could not yet be used for testing, as the field lines still had to be painted on. The smell of the paint was terrible; fortunately, the fields were finished by Wednesday and the air is already better.

The first test slots on the fields as well as the referee training could therefore only take place today, Wednesday. We took the opportunity to already book and utilize several time slots on the field. Anyone who knows our club knows that every now and then, there are fires to put out in multiple places. The only important thing is that all fires are extinguished before the first game.

So, for today’s friendly match at 9:00 PM local time, motivated work is happening in various areas. Since we will be leaving the hall late in the evening due to the friendly match, the question arises as to what we can have for dinner. This year, unlike in previous years, there are not only banners in the hall pointing out various nearby restaurants, but even a supermarket and several restaurants within the event building itself.

Apart from today’s test match, we are looking forward to an eventful first match day tomorrow, with our first official game at 11:30 AM local time (4:30 AM in Germany). There will be a livestream again this year, but many of the games here take place in the morning, meaning they fall at rather inconvenient hours for German time. We naturally hope that more German spectators will tune in for the games scheduled at more favorable times.

RoboCup 2025 Schedule

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Day 1 – Thursday, July 17:

Time (CEST)              Game                                        Phase                         Result

9am (2pm)                 TIGERs vs ER-Force                  G1                             10-0

 

Day 2 – Friday, July 18:

Time (CEST)              Game                                        Phase                        Result

9am (2pm)                 RoboDragons vs ER-Force         G1                            0-0

12am (5pm)               ZJUNIict vs ER-Force                  G1                           1-0

6:30pm (11:30pm)     RoboCin vs ER-Force                  G1                            0-0

 

Day 3 – Saturday, July 19:

Time (CEST)              Game                                        Phase                        Result

9am (2pm)                  TIGERs vs ER-Force                Upper 1.1                      5-0

12am (5pm)                RoboDragons vs ER-Force       Lower 2.1                     4-3

 

 

 

Day 7 – The End in Penalty Shootout

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How does a tournament day start? Just like any other: breakfast – more swallowed than enjoyed – grab your bag, step into your shoes, and head off to the venue. At this point, we could walk the route in our sleep. Still, the mood was good – full of energy, because the first match of the day was coming up. Focus on, tunnel vision engaged, everything aligned for the match against TIGERs Mannheim.

ER-Force vs TIGERs

And the match? Surprisingly solid. Sure, we lost 0:5 – but that score doesn’t tell the full story. We played way better than in our first game against them. Managed some real attacks on their goal, had much more presence in their half. Overall, it felt structured, stable, clean. A huge improvement – and it showed.

Then about two hours until the next match. A proper team meeting: what worked, what didn’t, who’s doing what. Then we got to work. The venue was as hectic as ever – people fixing, coding, testing. The match before ours – ZJUNlict vs RoboCin – ran long, so we didn’t get on the field until right before kickoff.

The game against RoboDragons was tough but intense. We took an early 1:0 lead – quick moment of hope. Then the equalizer: 1:1 due to an own goal. A chip bounced off our own centerback and deflected straight toward the goal. It happens. The match went into overtime – and eventually to a penalty shootout. Sadly, we lost.

Naturally, the mood after that was subdued. No one really knew what went wrong. We had barely changed anything since the last match. One possible explanation: maybe the vision system was adjusted for another team’s robots at some point and never switched back. Whether that was the reason? Hard to say. But that’s part of the game – learning to deal with stuff like that.

The rest of the evening was more relaxed. We watched some matches, chatted with other teams, repaired a few things here and there. And then, of course: the open TC/OC meeting – another late night in the hall until 10 PM.

ER-Force vs RoboDragons

Some ended the day with a walk on the beach, others crashed straight into bed – completely wiped.