Artificial Intelligence and Robotics blog
Posts tagged Robocup
International Humanoid Robot Olympic Games
Nov 8th
The Chinese have just announced that they intend to hold the first ever International Humanoid Robot Olympic Games in the city of Harbin possibly in June 2010. There are few details about the event other than what was posted in a brief article on CCTV’s website; you can read the article here.
The organizers are busy trying to find sponsors for the robot Olympics while they expect 100 Universities from 20 countries will send robots to compete. The Olympics will be exclusive to humanoid robots. The events will be a mixture of traditional Olympic sports such as track and field and more robotics related activities such as doing housework.
The organizers claim that the robot Olympics are designed to help make more intelligent robots for use at home. The Humanoid Olympic Games will be competing with the well established RobotCup competition which attracts much attention every year. Robot rescue and robot soccer are the two main events with the latter having the longest history in robotics competitions (see our previous stories “Robot soccer: Then and now!” and “RoboCup: When and why did robots start playing soccer? for more information”.)
I am curious to see if the Humanoid Olympics actually take place and if so how many Universities will be able to take part. More importantly, it is amazing to me that in 2009, we can start thinking about robotics competitions that involve only humanoid robots and expect many participants. It goes to show how quickly the field of robotics has advanced in the last decade.
AIspace: Learn artificial intelligence using this collection of freely available interactive tools
Aug 23rd
A few days ago, I wrote about what I believe is the average person’s irrational fear of robots. As some people pointed out, some of these fears exist because we don’t really understand what Artificial Intelligence is and what it is capable of. So, I thought that some/many/all of our readers may benefit from learning the basics of AI.
To that effect, I would like to bring your attention to AIspace which is an online collection of interactive tools specifically designed for teaching introductory AI concepts to students. The tools have been under continuous development since 1999 at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
AIspace includes interactive tools for learning about arc consistency for constraint satisfaction problems, belief networks, graph searching, decision networks, neural networks, planning, and robot control. The tools are also accompanied with plenty of documentation to help anyone get started in AI.
The video below provides a short overview of AIspace. For the record, the person narrating in the video is Prof. Alan Mackworth who among many other honors is also the Founding Father of Robot soccer, i.e., Robocup.
RoboCup Rescue 2009 photos
Jul 14th
Amir, one of the participants in this year’s RoboCup Rescue competition was kind enough to let me know of a large collection of photos from the competition that he would like to share with all of us. For context, the rescue competition is designed to stimulate research in building autonomous or semi-autonomous mobile robots that can assist in rescue operations in disaster zones, e.g., finding survivors in a collapsed building after a major earthquake. The competition has been taking place annually for more than a decade and I can tell you that the rescue robots are becoming more advanced every year. I am very optimistic that in another 10 years such robots will become a rescuer’s best friend helping save many lives.
With Amir’s permission I have included a couple of the photos at the bottom of this post, but if you want to see the entire collection of more than 100 high resolution photos, go here.
Thank you Amir and I hope your team was successful at the competition.
Robotics in 2008 and 2009: What happened in 2008 and what might happen in 2009
Jan 1st
First, I want to wish all of you a happy and prosperous new year! This blog continued to grow in 2008 and we now receive 50% more traffic than the year before. On December 31st, the last day of 2008, Feedburner stats also reported that we finally reached 2000 subscribers in combined RSS and email. Thank you all for continuing to read this blog.
This past year has been an exciting one as far as new developments in robotics are concerned. A number of new robots were commercial introduced (most of them toy robots) while scientists continued to develop new algorithms advancing our ability to construct intelligent robots and better understand human intelligence. Don’t forget that we can now have autonomous cars driving for hours in city traffic (c. 2007), legged robots traversing rough terrain, and unmanned aerial vehicles performing complex maneuvers. New exoskeletons such as the ones from Sarcos (c. 2007), Cyberdyne, and Honda have, for the first time, been demonstrated as valuable tools capable of extending human abilities past the limits imposed upon us by nature.
Robots have also continued to decrease in size and price. There a large variety of robotic kits available for sale today at affordable prices. Compare that to when I started graduate school in 1999 when as far as I can recall there were 0 such kits available in the market. Robocup has also continued to flourish in 2008 with the legged robot league continuing forward even after Sony’s AIBO was discontinued years ago.
Faster computers with more memory and lots of bandwidth have continued to place state-of-the-art robotics and artificial intelligence algorithms within reach of hobbyists. Anyone can download the latest copy of Microsoft’s Robotics Studio, purchase iRobot’s cheap but very capable Create robot and go on to do amazing things at home using only a computer worth a few hundred dollars; I am talking about robotics work that 10 years ago could only be found in advanced robotics laboratories requiring hundreds if not millions of dollars in funding to operate. Even today, however, those with a bit of extra money to spend, an NVIDIA Tesla desktop supercomputer is now available and very capable for doing some serious number crunching at the laboratory or even at home.
So, where are robotics and artificial intelligence heading in 2009? This question is very hard to answer as any predictions about future technology in the long and short terms are bound to be proven wrong in due time. I’ll make a couple of predictions but don’t quote me on them.
I believe that the trend of cheaper and better (as in more capable) robotic kits will continue in the new year. Most of these robots will be targeted to the hobbyist and toy markets. Robotics research around the world will continue at more or less full speed even though the current economic crisis might make it difficult for scientists to get funding at the level of previous years. I believe that robotics is the next big industry that will move the world economy forward and past the current crisis just the way that the Internet did in the nineties and the computer industry before that in the eighties.
In 2009, we are also going to see the first few robotic systems designed to tackle Google’s Lunar X-Prize. I don’t think that any robots will make it to the Moon this year but we are going to start seeing more activity that has to do with this challenge. The Moon is a very exciting destination once more and 2009 will be a pivotal year to our return to its surface especially for private enterprises which have never been there before.
Once more, it is very difficult to make accurate predictions about future technology so I could be entirely wrong. Time will tell if I am right or wrong. Keep reading this blog to find out. Our robotics adventure has only begun and the voyage will be a long but exciting one. Stay tuned!
Robotex 2008: Estonian student robotics competition
Jul 4th
Robotex is a robotics competition that has taken place yearly since 2001 in Estonia. This year, the competition will take place at Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia on December 5th. The theme of the competition is that of a robot cleaning a room. The task involves navigating the environment and collecting soda cans and socks that are scattered throughout the room. Kids everywhere would love to have such a robot.
Prize money for this competitions are a massive 6000 Euro. The registration is free but you have to register by15 October 2008 or you might miss your chance to participate. The competition is open to students but also anyone with an interest in robotics and automation. Moreover, participants in the past were not only from Estonia but also Sweden and Finland so to a certain degree this is an international event.
These robotics competitions are excellent in terms of introducing kids to the wonderful world of robotics. Participation encourages kids to pursue a career in a discipline that is continuously growing considering the need for robotic servants and companions in quickly aging societies. In addition, robotics is a nice platform for teaching analytical skills that are going to be very useful for the kids throughout their lives even if they never pursue careers in robotics.
There are many robotics competitions similar to Robotex worldwide. The largest one is probably the annual RoboCup which attracts not only young students but also advanced graduate students in several challenging competitions including robot soccer and robot rescue. Robotex has been a success since the first event in 2001 and even though I cannot attend myself, if you happen to be in the neighborhood on December 5th, you should go check it out (and send us photos and video.)
PS: I love the Robotex slogan, “where brains and metal meet.” Brilliant!
Robot soccer: Then and now!
Jul 11th
Just a couple of days ago, we had the conclusion of the 2007 edition of the annual RoboCup tournament held at Georgia Tech. The event which has exploded in popularity in recent years includes a variety of different soccer playing robots both physical and simulation as well as other events such as the robot rescue competition and numerous industrial and academic demonstrations.
You can find lots of video footage and photos from RoboCup events on YouTube and Flickr but I want to use this post to show you the progress that we have made in robotics during the last 15 years. Alan Mackworth from the University of British Columbia was the first person to suggest that soccer was the perfect domain for testing artificial intelligence. He talked about this in a couple of papers back in 1992 and 1993; because of that, the International RoboCup Foundation has named him “The Founding Father” of robot soccer. His research team at the Laboratory for Computation Intelligence at UBC constructed the first ever soccer playing robots, the Dynamo and Dynamites. So, without further delay, here is a video circa 1993 that showcases these robots using constraint programming to perform basic soccer maneuvers for goalkeeping and shooting.
So, how advanced is robot soccer today? 15 years later, small humanoid robots have become increasingly prevalent in RoboCup. From having simple demonstrations of humanoid robots kicking the ball just a 3 years ago, the event now hosts a number of 2 vs 2 humanoid events added to the 4-legged AIBO and the many wheeled robot leagues. As you can see from the 2007 RoboCup video bellow, we have come a long way since 1992.
The next 5-10 years are going to be very exciting. Hopefully, we will start to see more cooperation between the robots executing plays that require coordination and cooperation such as passing the ball or defending as a team. For that to happen, we will need better reasoning algorithms but also robot bodies that are more responsive and with better sensing. Considering the fast development of such technologies, I am fairly certain that such advanced soccer playing robots will soon become reality.
New Nao at Robocup 2007
Jul 6th
The 2007 edition of the world famous Robocup tournament is well under way and more than half way through at Georgia Tech in Atalanta; the competition ends on July 10th.
French humanoid robot maker, Aldebaran Robotics, was there to show off their second generation Nao robot. The new robot is a bit smaller than the first prototype and it boasts stereo vision. The company demonstrated the robot walking and kicking a small soccer ball. I heard rumors that after scoring a goal, Nao went on the hunt for an Italian to headbutt paying homage to soccer superstar Zinade Zidane (that was a poor attempt at a joke, btw.)
You can watch videos of the new Nao at the Aldebaran website here; the videos include the robot kicking the ball and a Haka dance (in simulation) which is common in rugby but not in soccer.
Other than soccer, Robocup also hosts a robot rescue competition and events for high school students interested in robotics. There is a Flickr group with lots of photos from the events in addition to a YouTube channel with a large number of videos.
Alan Mackworth from the University of British Columbia was the first to suggest that the game of soccer was a good testbed for AI algorithms. Playing soccer requires intelligence at the single agent level but also the cooperation of multiple agents in a very dynamic environment. Mackworth is currently the president elect of AAAI.
Microsoft working on simulated Robot Soccer Challenge
Mar 16th
In its efforts to market their relatively recent Robotics Studio, Microsoft has developed a soccer simulator in hopes that it can be used in RoboCup 2007. Microsoft Robotics Studio uses the AGEIA PhysX Technology to create simulated but realistic environments for robotics research while making it easy to port the resulting controller to a real robot. Bill Gates recently wrote an article for Scientific American providing a brief overview of robotics history while making sure to promote their new product.
A couple of days ago, Microsoft announced their intention to sponsor a competitive demonstration of their physics-based 3D engine applied to robot soccer in RoboCup 2007. Currently, there is an open call for participants and interested parties can find information at the U.S. RoboCup website.
It is expected that initially teams will work with an early version of the simulator that only supports wheeled robots; this should give developers a chance to become familiar with the software and also work on team strategy. Microsoft has promised to develop support for legged robots by May.
Finally, Microsoft is not limiting itself to just simulation. They hope that in the future they will be able to work closely with robot manufacturers to develop real soccer playing robots with software development centered on the Microsoft Robotics Studio.
It is clear that Microsoft is really serious about making an impact in robotics over the next few years. They have already gained support from a number of robot manufacturers including Kuka, iRobot, SRI International, Lego Systems, Yujin Robotics, Coroware, Parallax, Robosoft etc. I suspect that they will continue to gather support both from the industry but also from academia and even hobby roboticists on the virtue that their software is free and well supported and documented. The Microsoft Robotics Studio has numerous tutorials for beginner and advanced users not to mention 10 hours of video tutorials. In fact, I may go ahead and download a copy myself.
The Semantic Robot Vision Challenge
Mar 11th
For the first time, researchers will compete in the Semantic Robot Vision Challenge (SRVC) as part of AAAI’s Mobile Robot Competition and Exhibition. The idea behind SRVC is to test machine learning algorithms applied to computer vision using online databases. The competition will essentially send mobile robots to a scavenger hunt.
The Semantic Robot Vision Challenge is a new research competition that is designed to push the state of the art in image understanding and automatic acquisition of knowledge from large unstructured databases of images (such as those generally found on the web).
Each robot will be given a textual list of objects that it must identify by searching in a confined area. It will first be allowed a small amount of time to go online and search on Google images for example photos of what the objects look like. The robot should use this information to learn a model of each object’s appearance without supervision. Lastly, it will be allowed to enter a given area and autonomously search for the objects by using its on-board camera. The winner is the robot that identifies the most objects correctly.
This challenge is not an easy task. The machine learning part is tricky because the robot must work with a large collection of images to be returned by Google. In addition, many of the example images will have lots of clutter making it difficult to identify the visual characteristics of just the object searched for. For example, if the robot is searching for images of bicycle helmets then many of the results returned by Google will likely include photos of people wearing helmets making it difficult to segment just the helmet without human supervision. The robotics part will also be difficult because it will require autonomous navigation and planning in a very large state space.
The final set of rules will be posted in just a few days on March 15th. The Semantic Robot Vision Challenge will take place during the 22nd National Conference on Artificial Intelligence to be held July 22-25 in Vancouver, Canada. The SRVC is also sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
I am really curious to see what kind of solutions people will come up with in order to complete this object discovery task.
Prof. Peter Stone: IJCAI-2007 Computers and Thought Award
Jan 25th
Dr. Peter Stone who is assistant professor in the Department of Computer Sciences at The University of Texas Austin was the recipient of this year’s Computers and Thought Award. The award is presented during the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) to a person selected by a specially selected review committee. Prof. Stone received the award for his contributions to robotics and more specifically for his research in multi-agent systems in collaborative and adversarial dynamic environments.
Prof. Stone has developed a number of new machine learning and vision algorithms that enable robots to play team sports and specifically soccer. His RoboCup teams have been extremely successful over the last few years something that he attributes to the development of improved reinforcement learning algorithms.
Interestingly, the award was not presented to anyone during the last conference in 2005 because the committee did not deem anyone was good enough. This makes Stone’s selection even more important and I would like to join in congratulating him for his success.
Peter gave a very interesting talk during the conference. He claimed that artificial intelligence research should be driven by what he calls “challenge problems.” He advocates that we should work towards the ultimate goal of AI (building autonomous learning agents) using a bottom-up approach, i.e., by constructing robots capable of completing specific tasks such as playing soccer. He believes that top-down approaches miss out on discovering heuristics that would make most of AI problems solvable. One of the biggest challenges for bottom-approaches are that can be very specific to the particular task and not generalize to other problems. Early in his talk, Prof. Stone made it clear that there is a middle ground where the two approaches meet and that is his battlefield. Luckily for those who could not attend the conference, a video of the talk as well as Stone’s presentation slides are available online here.
The Computers and Thought Award is very prestigious and some very notable scientists have received it over the years. Past recipients include David Marr, Tom Mitchell, Rodney Brooks, Martha Pollack, Stuart Russell, Leslie Kaelbling and Daphne Koller among many others.
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