[Event at CIG] RoboCup 2022 Virtual Robot Competition - Call for Participation

[AMIRREZA KABIRI]

* RoboCup Rescue Simulation Virtual Robot Competitions 2022*

*Bangkok, Thailand**July 11-19, 2022*

https://robocup-rsvrl.github.io/

https://2022.robocup.org/
<https://www.robocup.org/leagues/27>


*IMPORTANT DATES*



Pre-Registration……………………………….: February 15, 2022 (23:55 GMT)

Team Description Paper (TDP) submission..: March 21, 2022 (23:55 GMT)

Qualified teams announcement…………..…: March 28, 2022

Team registration deadline…….…………..…: May 31, 2022

Camera-ready TDP submission………….….: June 8, 2022 (23:55 GMT)

Tournament dates………………………..……: July 11-19, 2022



If you are interested in participating please take the time to pre-register
your team for the RoboCup 2022 Virtual Robot Competition as soon as
possible, so that we can inform you about the latest developments. The
current plan is to have the competition in-person and closely monitor the
COVID-19 restrictions and if needed the committee will provide the
teams remote access to a competition platform by using a cloud computing
service. In order to organise the we need to know the number of
participating teams. The ultimate deadline for pre-registration is set
on February 15, 2022.



*(1) RoboCup Rescue Simulation League and Virtual Robot Competition*

———————

The RoboCup Rescue Simulation League is a socially relevant part of the
RoboCup event. Its main purpose is to provide emergency decision support by
integration of disaster information, prediction, planning, and human
interface.



A generic urban disaster simulation environment is constructed on network
computers. Heterogeneous intelligent agents such as firefighters,
commanders, victims, volunteers, etc. conduct search and rescue activities
in this virtual disaster world. Agents can sense their environment and make
decisions on the basis of the perceived data. Mission-critical human
interfaces support disaster managers, disaster relief brigades, residents,
and volunteers to decide their actions to minimize the disaster damage.



Addressing this problem involves advanced and interdisciplinary research
themes. AI/robotics research, for example, behavior strategy (e.g.,
multi-agent planning, real-time/anytime planning, heterogeneity of agents,
robust planning, mixed-initiative planning) is a challenging problem. For
disaster researchers, RoboCup Rescue works as a standard basis in order to
develop practical comprehensive simulators adding necessary disaster
modules.



The Virtual Robot Competition is based on ROS/Gazebo, an advanced robot
simulator in which users can simulate multiple agents whose capabilities
closely mirror those of real robots. ROS/Gazebo currently features several
ground and air robots, as well as a wide range of sensors and actuators.
Moreover, by exploiting ROS, users can easily develop their robot systems
integrating standard modules.



Currently addressed research topics include but are not limited to

   - Human-robot interfaces
   - Autonomous navigation
   - Sensor fusion
   - Image processing
   - Speech processing
   - 2D and 3D mapping
   - Distributed planning
   - Distributed learning



*(2) Major changes to this year (2022)*

——————-

This year, we had a server migration to ROS2 bringing a great opportunity
for roboticists to learn ROS2 in a tested environment via challenges. This
new server could be accessed on "The Construct sim
<https://www.theconstructsim.com/>" as this league will provide the remote
participation option.

*(3) Intention of participation*

——————-

If you are interested to participate in the competition, please respond,
before Feb 15, 2021, by filling out the following google form:

https://forms.gle/U9vFrxGzky5EQ63CA  <https://forms.gle/U9vFrxGzky5EQ63CA>

*(4) Qualification material*

————————-

Besides sending the intention of participation, please prepare before Mar
21, 2022, a Team Description Paper describing the most innovative
contributions or scientific results your team is intended to provide.

The TDP is limited to 8 pages and must be formatted according to the LNCS
format:

http://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines
<https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1615825099001000&usg=AOvVaw36Sf67SZI1XkQ3LYpnZ9ES>



And the tex template file of the TDP can be found on the overleaf:

https://www.overleaf.com/read/nrcfnpygskyx
<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.overleaf.com/read/nrcfnpygskyx&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1615825099002000&usg=AOvVaw3nRbxB5YWLLoYKh33dP4NJ>


The Team Description Paper is an overview of the methodologies you use or
intend to use to control your robots inside the Virtual Robot Competition.
If applicable, include a reference to your latest publications.

The qualification material should be placed on a dedicated web page on the
team’s home page.

Please include the link to the qualification material on the intention of
participation information.



*(5) Useful links*

———–


   - Virtual Robot Competition Wiki <https://robocup-rsvrl.github.io/>
   - Virtual Robot Competition 2022 Server
   <https://github.com/RoboCup-RSVRL/RoboCup2022RVRL_Demo>
   - Official RoboCup Rescue Simulation website
   <https://rescuesim.robocup.org/>
   - Virtual Robot Competition 2022 Rule (draft)
   <https://robocup-rsvrl.github.io/assets/rules/RoboCup2022-RVRL-Rules-draft.pdf>


With kind regards,
Amirreza Kabiri on behalf of
RoboCup Rescue Simulation Executive, Technical, and Organizing Committees