Final Rulebook 2009

*** posted on the robocupathome@iais.fraunhofer.de mailing list 2009/06/11 10:16 ***

Dear all,

The final version of the rule book is available. There are no major changes since the draft, but I can recommend to read it completely. We adjusted the rules according to the findings during the Open competitions and the discussions on the email list.

 Some highlight of the changes (also regarding last year):

• The biggest change is that restart rule has changed. It is still allowed to do a restart, but the score does not reset. The amount of point is the average of the two runs if the second one is lower, and if the score of the second run is higher the second run counts.
• Regarding last year, the biggest change in the tests is in the 'follow me' test of stage 1. For example, there is human-robot interaction, and there is a part outside the scenario (living room/apartment).
• Also in several tests the focus on gesture recognition has increased and it is to be expected that it will increase in the coming years.
• The teams have to moderate themselves! So please have one person available who can moderate during a test.
• Penalty for not providing a referee (500 points) and for not showing up for a test (also 500) - Score system adjusted for less teams (for example during an Open competition)
• Supermarket test: only 3 objects (max) have to be manipulated - For the open challenge and the finals the focus is on demonstration (the robot doing something) and not on presentation (a team member doing something)
• Who's who? There will be a standard set of English names available (about 10) that can be used in case of strange sounding names (like my own name... ;-) )

The changes listed here are not all the changes, so please read the document carefully. It is not much (about half the size of the mid-size rule book, for example) but it is important. If you have any questions or uncertainties, please ask them on the email list before the competition starts. Also, with this email, I would like to attend that if teams are doing something in the Demo Challenge, where the robot is not a bartender or a waiter (but a cook, a host, collecting glasses or plates from a table, etc.) than this should be conveyed to us 2 weeks in advance for the competition. So if this is the case with your team, please send an email to me (tijn@ai.rug.nl) asap and we'll take it from there to see if it is possible. Also if you are planning to do anything in the Demo Challenge please send me an email to let us know that so we can plan accordingly. In case you're wondering where to find the rule book.

As always, it can be found on our website: http://www.robocupathome.org/

I'm looking forward to see you all in Graz.

Tijn (Exec @Home)

Draft Rulebook 2009

*** posted on the robocupathome@iais.fraunhofer.de mailing list 2009/01/19 11:49 am *** 

After heavy discussions in the Technical and Organizing Committee, the draft version of the rulebook for RoboCup@Home 2009 has been released. Thank you teams for your input and thank you TC and OC for your effort

Please download the new rulebook at http://www.robocupathome.org and post your comments and suggestions about it to the mailing list soon. The discussion on the rulebook ends on February 15th and a final version will be released by February 22nd.

 Here is a list of changes compared to last years rules:

• Robot Start button
• No external devices / no artificial landmarks
• Robot Inspection (safety and appearance)
• New qualification criterion: contribution to the @Home league (including Wiki contribution)
• Poster and Welcome session
• Fair Play rule
• Possibility to redo a test in stage 2
• Penalty for not attending
• Team provides a moderator (presenter) for each test
• New bonus score for outstanding performance
• Follow Me (prev. Fast Follow) now includes person independent following, HRI/gesture and leaving the arena
• Open Challenge: Changes in evaluation criteria (poster, scientific value)
• New Demo Challenge: "In the bar"
• Changes in evaluation criteria and new score system in the finals

In summary, we did not do severe changes in the tests except for Fast Follow, which went extremely well, but we hopefully got rid of a few flaws in the rules, which we identified in last year`s competition.

Please note that the "Contribution to the @Home league" is not only a qualification criterion but also counts as evaluation criterion in the finals. So please have a look at the @Home Wiki and see if you can add some information on hardware, software, methods, relevant papers, etc.

which you deem useful also for other teams. At least one person per team should be registered to the @Home Wiki at:

http://robocup.rwth-aachen.de/athomewiki

Looking forward to hearing your comments

The @Home Technical and Organizing Committee

rules

robocup@home - Official Rules 2008 (pdf)