RoboCup Simulation League consists of a number of competitions
with simulated soccer matches as the main event.
In RoboCup Simulation League teams of 11 autonomous software
agents per side play each other using the RoboCup soccer server
simulator, available from the official simulator website.
There are no actual robots in this league but spectators can
watch the action on a large screen, which looks like a giant
computer game.
Each simulated robot player may have its own play strategy and
characteristic and every simulated team actually consists of a
collection of programmes. Many computers are networked together
in order for this competition to take place.
The games last for about 10 minutes, with each half being 5
minutes duration.
This sub-league is for automated coaches which are able to work
with a variety of teams through the use of the standard coaching
language discussed on the coach-l
mailing list (the final language will be announced by the
technical and organizing committees). The research focus is on
team and opponent modelling and online adaptation. The coaches
can work both by analyzing logs of previous games and observing
and adapting while a game is proceeding.
For the first time in the history of RoboCup, we are planning to have
a competition using a 3D physical simulator. In this first year,
players in 3D competition will look like simple spheres. The simulator
will be based on the
simulation
system introduced at the RoboCup 2003 symposium and the
spades
simulation middleware system introduced at the RoboCup 2002
symposium.
The simulator for the competition is currently being built. Important
things like protocols and rules are not fixed yet, but it is expected
that a preliminary version will be available at the end of December
2003.
One of the goals for future 3D soccer competitions (i.e. after 2004)
is to have simulated robots with articulated bodies, for example like
humanoid robots.
for RoboCup 2002-2004, there are certain restrictions concerning sponsor logos. Please check out the special rules on team sponsorship.