Greetings from South Korea! RoboCup is already over by now, and the team can be very satisfied with its performance.

The group stage began with a match against TIGERs. Since a lot of new hardware was built in the hotel and the new radio system was being tested on a large scale for the first time, excitement was high. It was a very exciting game in which TIGERs couldn’t show their best side, as they struggled heavily with network issues. The vision and game controller packets are distributed across the field network via multicast to certain groups, but exactly these multicast groups were not being managed correctly. As a result, the TIGERs actually had a few moments of weakness, which we unfortunately couldn’t exploit, and the game ended 0-0.

The next day, things continued right in the morning against Ri-One. Against the 2024 Division B World Champions, we were able to prevail 2-0. The next opponent that day was RoboDragons. Unfortunately, the schedule was quite mixed up because some games took significantly longer than expected, which is why this match took place on a Division B field. Initially, we struggled a lot with problems regarding the calibrated field geometry. Some values were set incorrectly and confused our strategy. We were able to quickly communicate this to the referee and get it fixed, after which the game ran rather smoothly. We managed to secure a narrow 1-0 victory.

Thus, we emerged from the group in second place, tied on points with TIGERs, who only edged us out with a better goal difference. We started the knockout phase in the Upper Bracket; our first opponent was KIKS from Japan. We won decisively here as well with a 6-1 score. It was one of the few SSL games that didn’t end in a shutout. KIKS’s goal was well deserved, beautifully set up, and poorly defended by us at the crucial moment due to a tiny radio dropout on a key center back.

Moving further along in the Upper Bracket, our next opponent was RoboCîn. Notorious for their aggressive driving style, characterized by many hard collisions, we were already fearing for our robots. The match turned out to be a nail-biter. After regular time the score was 0-0, just as it was after extra time. So it went to a penalty shootout and remained tense. But after three saved shots and one goal for both teams, we were able to clinch the game 2-1 on the fifth penalty. [1]

Next, we played against TIGERs. By this time, the field setup had been switched from multicast to broadcast to permanently resolve the network issues. Both teams played very well; it was an incredibly fluid, exciting, and balanced game, where ER-Force also managed to get some shots on the Mannheim goal. Unfortunately, 2 of the Tigers’ shots made it through, so it ended 2-0. It was probably one of the most beautiful games of the tournament; overall, the match lasted only 30 minutes, which speaks volumes for both teams.

Final day. First against RoboCîn, then the winner against TIGERs in the Grand Final. After the beautiful 2-0 defeat, the team was already mentally picturing a scoring chance or two. But first up was Cîn. Like us, the Brazilians were not idle overnight and were able to change quite a bit about their driving style. Consequently, it was a much smoother game with fewer fouls. Unfortunately, they were able to take the lead through a shot that was incredibly bungled by our defense. Even though there were some chances, we couldn’t follow up and thus were eliminated from the tournament 0-1, finishing in third place.

In the final against TIGERs, they were then beaten 5-0. With this, TIGERs Mannheim has reached 1st place in the Hall of Fame with 6 World Championship titles!

However, we still see third place as a huge victory. The robots survived the entire tournament electronically and mechanically without any notable losses. The firmware and control systems have also reached a stable level. Together with the new radio system—which still has some minor teething troubles but offers a clear path forward—the current generation forms a solid foundation for next year!

With that, the big event of the year comes to an end once again. After a great Major Party and a well-deserved sleep-in, the team is now taking some vacation time in Korea and Japan before we catch our return flight.