From being an eight-time world champion back to the rookie league. For many soccer teams, this is a black scenario, but for the TU/e student team TechUnited, it means an exciting step forward. With the rolling, pawn-shaped soccer robots, the team has been dominating the RoboCup for years, so it's time for a new challenge: "Our ultimate goal is to beat a human team in 2050, for which we have to make the switch from wheels to legs," explains team member Peter Teurlings. "When we received the invitation from China to participate in the World Humanoid Robot games, it was the perfect starting signal to put our new vision into practice."
A few weeks ago, it arrived at the campus in Eindhoven: the new human (soccer) robot, or humanoid, with which TechUnited is allowed to pioneer. "Super cool, of course," says Teurlings. "Best unboxing ever, the whole team was gathered together. Until we found out that the battery is sent separately," he laughs. So, just a little patience. Fortunately, this robot is not needed for the tournament in China. There, the student team trained for the past two weeks with five similar robots that were already ready.
Although TechUnited was eliminated after three qualifying games (two losses, one draw), the team does see this experience as a win. "What we have learned and experienced in that short time would otherwise have taken us at least three quarters of a year," reflects Danny Hameeteman, team member and robotics engineer at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. "Working full-time with eight people on five humanoids (human-like robots, ed.) really meant making meters."
Pioneering with humanoids
Moreover, it provided a wealth of valuable learning points. "That's what these kinds of tournaments are actually meant for," explains Hameeteman. "There were eighteen teams from different countries present, all of whom are also pioneers with humanoids. So you can learn from each other. For example, we worked with the Portuguese team on AI-trained movements for the robots. By bringing our technical knowledge together, we have both made progress."
Such progress fits in with the worldwide development of humanoids. "They want to make that really big, especially in China, the government and various local sponsors are investing heavily in both the competition and the robot development," says Teurlings. "For example, the improvement of locomotion skills for walking robots is also going very fast, which makes the decision to switch to humanoids now very logical."
This is slowly but surely putting an end to TechUnited's rolling pawns, or Middle Size League (MSL) robots. "During the annual RoboCups , we showed what we are worth. When the invitation came for the World Humanoid Robot games, we decided to play with the MSL robots for the last time in 2027," says Teurlings. "We want to beat a human team by 2050, so this was a great time for the next step." However, the ultimate goal is anything but a done deal.
From leader to the rookie league
For the last couple of years, TechUnited was a favorite leader in robot soccer; now, they have to start from the bottom again. "It's really comparable to the rookie league," Teurlings nuances with a wink. "So it's mainly about mastering basic skills. We can already speak of a success if we let the robots run stably. Kicking a ball is more a matter of running into the ball a little faster," he says with a chuckle. "They can't really grab the ball or anything, let alone aim it in a targeted way."
"In addition, walking robots are much less accurate to follow in the field than rolling MSL robots. Hardware technically they don't look alike at all. So we are very limited in management." The focus for the World Humanoid Robot games was therefore on making the MSL software and strategy fit for the humanoid league, which according to Teurlings is really a huge step forward.
Hameeteman also emphasizes. "And that has worked out quite well in China. We knew beforehand where the challenges were, but we now have a much clearer focus on them. More importantly, we have gained a lot of inspiration for solutions that we can continue to work on with our own humanoid in Eindhoven."
Enough focus points to tackle
"Take, for example, the location determination on the soccer field by the robots. Our MSL robots have a camera on top with a 360-degree omnivision and a Zed2 camera on the front, which allows them to detect high balls at the front as well. The humanoids are only allowed to have two, just like human eyes. That makes it a lot more difficult to identify the ball or lines on the field. And so there are still plenty of focus points to tackle."
Although the competitive element of robot soccer is actually mainly a kick-off for 'the real thing', Teurlings emphasizes. After all, the whole idea is to exchange knowledge and experiences in a playful way so that robotization can gain more and more ground in daily life. "We want humanoids to adapt to people instead of the other way around. Then they will be embraced more quickly, first by companies and then by consumers."
Leading the way in the humanoid league
In this way, the world is slowly but surely moving towards the humanoids, Teurlings observes. "Of course, we would like to go along with that. Or better said, we want to be leading the way." Next year, TechUnited will participate in the humanoid league of the RoboCup. "Until then, we can apply the experiences from China to our own humanoid, which we will work on for the rest of the year."
What new challenges the team will have to tackle will gradually become clear. "Playing with this robot gives us insight into what we would like to change. That's a great journey of discovery. We will probably get more humanoids, because during the humanoid league of the RoboCup we play against each other with teams of three." The currently lonely humanoid can therefore expect friends soon. In the meantime, he waits patiently on the TU/e campus, because without a battery, he won't walk anywhere anyway.
