Tech Topics - Fall 2007 - (Page 21)

TheHill Robotics Rivalry Georgia Tech hosts international RoboCup competition By Jane M. Sanders “P lay hard, live well” could be the motto for the more than 1,700 roboticists who participated in July in an annual international competition held for the first time at Georgia Tech. The original goal of the competition, called RoboCup, was to develop a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that, by 2050, can win against the human world champion team in soccer. The game provides a familiar context for demonstrating advances in robotics. Though RoboCup’s initial goal remains intact, the competition’s purpose has expanded from its start 11 years ago. “The goal is broader now,” said Tucker Balch, PhD CS 98, a Georgia Tech associate professor of computing and lead organizer of RoboCup 2007. “RoboCup has created a set of standard challenges that drive research and development for mobile robots that help people.” At RoboCup, teams of college students — typically led by research faculty — design robots of varying sizes, shapes and sophistication to compete in six soccer leagues, a searchand-rescue challenge and a division devoted to robots for the home. There is also a junior soccer league for younger students. The competition proves both fun and educational, even for the experts. “RoboCup drives research forward with concrete competitions that reveal the confidence of robots, which ideas are working well and which need more work,” Balch said. “It’s not that all research should be a competition, but sometimes competition is good in terms of motivating people. Everybody loves a game. Students get very motivated. If you win RoboCup, you can’t help but have done some significant research.” The competition’s three challenges are driving advances in various technologies, Balch noted. RoboCup Soccer pushes forward research in robotic mobility, dexterity and teamwork. RoboCup Rescue requires innovative design of robots that can navigate challenging terrain and change shape to fit in tight spaces. It’s also driving development of human-robot interfaces because these robots are remotely operated. Meanwhile, RoboCup@Home inspires technologies aimed at making it easy for people to work directly with robots in their homes. “You can’t give a Robots from around the world converged at Georgia Tech to compete in soccer matches. The competitions help advance research in robotic mobility, dexterity and teamwork. robot out of a box to your mother-inlaw and expect her to program it,” Balch explained. “We’re researching how we can make robots that understand directions from people who aren’t robotics researchers. And it’s not just for robots to understand speech. They also need to understand hand gestures and to learn by someone showing them what to do.” At RoboCup 2007, Georgia Tech fielded two rookie teams — both there for the experience and insight, rather than winning, Balch noted. Within two years, he expects these teams to be tough international competitors. One team consisted of undergraduates affiliated with the Institute’s RoboJackets Club. They prepared for the small-size soccer league in which teams of five autonomous robots, each about the size of a roll of toilet paper, play for two 10minute halves. They compete in a 12by-20-foot arena using a golf ball, which moves at a fast-paced four meters per second when the robots hit it. But the RoboJackets team was only able to play some scrimmage matches rather than participate in the official competition because of last-minute equipment failures — which they attributed to low-quality, off-the-shelf cameras they bought because of their shoestring budget. “This was our first exposure to the event, and we learned a lot from the more experienced teams who answered lots of questions we had,” said RoboJackets Club secretary Ryan Stewart, an undergraduate mechanical engineering student from Marietta, Ga. Graduate student Yoichiro Endo works on Georgia Tech’s entry in the search-and-rescue contest. PHOTOS BY ROB FELT “We will definitely do it again next year for the U.S. Open RoboCup, and if we do well, we’ll go to China for the international competition.” Balch supervised the second Georgia Tech team in the RoboCup Rescue challenge in which robots explore a maze-like, simulated disaster site comparable in square footage to a small house. The tele-operated, sensor-laden robots navigate over stairs and platforms and through “rubble” as they search for partially hidden, batteryoperated dolls that move their arms and legs, cry and emit heat. After they find and assess victims for signs of life, the robots produce a map showing the victims’ locations. Each team is scored based on the quality of its maps, the accuracy of the victim information and the number of victims found. Georgia Tech’s team was eliminated in preliminary rounds at RoboCup 2007. “It’s not easy to make a robot that is capable over rough terrain,” explained Ben Axelrod, MS CS 07, who co-developed Georgia Tech’s rescue robot with Can Envarli, MS CS 07. “We settled on some powerful motors, which drove the entire design, and the robot became bigger — about 300 pounds, which was larger than others in the competition. I think that hurt us because the spaces (in the simulated disaster site) were so small. Our robot was able to get over the terrain, but the tight spaces presented a tough problem.” The real-life goal for these robots — which have already been used in disasters and war zones — is to provide humans with enough information to safely perform a rescue, Axelrod said, adding that RoboCup Rescue tries to advance the capabilities of these robots, which need improved hardware design, communications and environmental sensing. For the almost 300 Georgia Tech faculty, staff and students who helped with RoboCup 2007, the event was also a cultural learning experience and an opportunity to show Georgia Tech — especially its burgeoning robotics program — to researchers from 37 countries, Balch noted. This year marked the first time the event was held on a college campus and the second time it was held in the United States. Its premier sponsor was KUKA Robotics. TECHTOPICS | FALL 2007 21

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Contents Mail Call Alumni House Historic Renovation 007 Buzz Bash Dazzling Daylilies Living History Cover Story: Key to the City The Hill Tapping Technology Robotics Rivalry No Easy Ride Giving Back Balancing Act Student Life Burdell & Friends Epic Story of Heroism Yellow Jackets Very Good Team Passport to Retirement Real World

Tech Topics - Fall 2007

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