RoboCup 2025 Humanoid Soccer Competition Call for Papers
RoboCup 2025
Humanoid Soccer Competition
https://humanoid.robocup.org/
July 15 - 21, 2025, Salvador, Brazil
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The RoboCup Humanoid League invites teams to apply for participation
at the RoboCup 2025 Humanoid Soccer Competition in Salvador, Brazil.
The Humanoid League will host competitions in the following categories:
* KidSize: 40 - 100cm robot height (FIFA size 1 ball)
* AdultSize: 100 - 200cm robot height (FIFA size 5 ball)
For more detailed class definitions, please refer to the humanoid
league home page at https://humanoid.robocup.org/.
Teams do not need to provide a full robot team to apply for competing
in the Humanoid Soccer Competition. The qualifying round of Drop-In
games will be played with only one robot per team. Teams that cannot
provide a full team of robots (four robots in KidSize and two in
AdultSize) will be grouped to form a playable team for the main
tournament games. Teams are also encouraged to form and apply as joint
teams. Joint proposals will be judged on their combined merit.
In case of a sufficient number of qualified teams, the sub-leagues
(KidSize and/or AdultSize) will be divided into League A and League
B. Teams are seeded into the leagues based on the results of an
initial round of Drop-In games.
For the qualification process, teams must provide the following material:
1) Robot Video
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Teams need to provide a video of their robot demonstrating the robots'
autonomous soccer playing skills.
The recommended skills needed for qualification are:
* localization of unknown ball position,
* walking ability towards the ball,
* robot positioning at the ball for kicking,
* kicking the ball towards the goal,
* ability of getting up autonomously from a fall (KidSize only)
We encourage teams to include in the video more complex and
intelligent behavior such as demonstrating localization, and robots
playing in a game, recordings from actual soccer matches are
admissible. If possible, please provide footage that demonstrates the
robot behavior without wires attached.
The qualification video must be supplied as a link via YouTube. The
maximum duration of the video must not exceed 5 minutes. The
qualifying team is responsible to ensure that the video adheres to
YouTube's TOS (especially in regard to music copyright) to prevent the
video from being blocked for the reviewers. Teams that do not provide
a qualification video or a viewable video will not be qualified!
2) Software Description
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During the registration process, a form will be provided to submit
details about the algorithms used or anticipated to be used for the
participation in the 2025 competition. Algorithms shall be described
in such detail that they can be reproduced by other teams. If software
from other teams or standard algorithms are used, references need to
be included. If the algorithm has been adapted to be used in the
competition, those deviations need to be described in appropriate
details.
The form will include questions in the following areas:
* Walking
* Vision
* Localization
* Team Communication
* Behavior
* Contributions to the RoboCup community, e.g. software releases,
paper publications, provision of league infrastructure or data sets
Responses to the questions are expected to reflect the current or
anticipated status of the software during the RoboCup 2025
competition. If the software has not changed or no changes are
anticipated to be made until the competition, teams may copy & paste a
response from previously submitted material.
3) Extended Abstract
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A two-page extended abstract must be submitted. For teams which have
previously participated in the Humanoid League, the extended abstract
needs to:
* include lessons learned from the participation in previous RoboCup
competitions
* highlight major problems that the team is trying to solve for the
upcoming competition
* outline the plans for the major changes that the teams anticipate to
have implemented by the RoboCup 2025 competition
* describe the implementation status of the changes planned by the
time of submitting the application
For teams which have never participated in the RoboCup Humanoid
League, the Extended Abstract needs to pitch the scientific aspects of
their humanoid robotic system and highlight their research interests.
The Extended Abstract is limited to 2 pages maximum and must be
submitted in PDF format. Extended Abstracts are designed to highlight
the changes and scientific developments since the last RoboCup. Thus,
we expect the usage of material from previous TDPs or Extended
Abstracts to be minimal. If used, they need to be cited
appropriately. Submissions of last year's Extended Abstract will be
desk-rejected.
The Extended Abstract must follow the LNCS format which can be
downloaded from
https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines. Teams
that do to follow the LNCS formatting and style guidelines will not be
qualified. No exceptions to this rule will be made.
4) Robot Specification
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Regardless of the kid or adult size competition, a one-page
specification (PDF) must be provided for each different type of
humanoid robot used by the team that includes the following:
* Robot picture
* Robot name
* Height of the robot
* Weight of the robot
* Walking speed in cm/s
* Number of degrees of freedom and type of motors on each kinematic
chain of the robot
* Type of sensors used (incl. type of camera(s) and specific
manufacturer part number (e.g. “6-DoF IMU” is NOT an acceptable
description))
* Computing unit(s)
* Materials (e.g. Torso aluminum, legs and arms CFRP)
* Electronics (e.g. CM730 for communicating with servos)
* Battery (e.g. 3S1P 2200mAh LiPo)
* Open Source link if applicable
* Other specs
5) Letter of Commitment
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A one-page letter addressed to the RoboCup Humanoid League Technical
Committee including the following:
* a statement committing to participate in the RoboCup 2025 Humanoid
League competition,
* a statement committing to make a person with sufficient knowledge
of the rules available as referee during the competition.
The letter must be signed (by hand or using a digital signature
software as Adobe or DocuSign) by the team leader and submitted either
as a JPG, PNG or PDF file.
The TC may include the fulfillment of the statement of commitment of
participation as well as the performance of the team's referee in
previous RoboCup competitions into consideration for qualification.
Each application to the Humanoid Soccer Competition will be reviewed
by two members of the Technical Committee and two other teams applying
to the Humanoid Soccer Competition. The combined reviewing score will
decide whether a team qualifies for participation.
Reviewing other team's material is mandatory for teams that want to
participate in the Humanoid Soccer Competition. Failing to provide an
adequate review by the provided deadline will have consequences for
the team’s own qualification status.
6) Rules
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The current version of the rules may be found here at the Humanoid
League website: https://humanoid.robocup.org/materials/rules/.
We expect the final version of the 2025 rules to be published in early
spring 2025.
7) Registration
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The following information is required for registration:
* Team name
* URL of the team's home page
* Name of team leader or team contact person
* E-mail address of team leader or contact person
* Postal address of the team, team leader or contact person
* Competition category: Humanoid Soccer Competition KidSize or AdultSize
Please note that teams applying for participation in several
categories must submit individual application material for each class,
and pay the appropriate registration fee for each category. At least
one team member must register on each team. Furthermore, teams in
different categories must be able to compete, and guarantee to have
members acting as referees available independently and at the same
time.
8) Plagiarism
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Plagiarism, loosely the unattributed use of other peoples' words,
code, and ideas is not tolerated in the RoboCup community. See the
point "Publishing Ethics" at
https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines
for a more detailed description. The teams and team members that
plagiarize another peoples' work and present it as their own will be
disqualified. For a first offense, the team and team members will be
banned from RoboCup competition for two years (usually the current and
next year). Harsher penalties will be applied to repeat offenders or
extremely serious cases of plagiarism. A team may be disqualified at
any time for plagiarism, even after the competition has
started. RoboCup will not reimburse teams for any expenses related to
their disqualification.
9) Online Submission
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All qualification material must be submitted online.
The submission site is still under development and will be made
available on the next days.
10) Important Dates
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Humanoid Soccer Competition
* Submission system open: November 17th, 2024
* Submission deadline: December 13th, 2024
* Team Review Period: December 16th - December 20th, 2024
* Announcement of qualified teams: January 17th, 2025
11) Publication
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Please note that after the announcement of the qualified teams the
qualified teams submitted material will be made publicly available on
the Humanoid League website. Teams applying for participation,
therefore, implicitly grant the right of publication of their
qualification material to the Humanoid League.
12) Visa Process
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If you are a citizen of a country that needs a Visa for traveling to
the Netherlands, please start the VISA process as soon as you receive
your notification of qualification. If you are not sure if you're
eligible for a VISA-exempt, please consult the official website of the
Brazilian government for information, at
https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/assuntos/portal-consular/vistos/informacoes-sobre-vistos-para-estrangeiros-viajarem-ao-brasil.
For more information about the humanoid league, please refer to the
humanoid league home page at https://humanoid.robocup.org/ and join
the humanoid league mailing list at:
https://lists.robocup.org/listinfo/robocup-humanoid
With best regards,
Technical Committee of RoboCup Humanoid League 2025