Interview with Roberto Figueiredo: the RoboCup expertise

Roberto Figueiredo is a grasp’s pupil on the College of Aveiro. He’s a member of the Daring Hearts RoboCup crew which competes within the Humanoid KidSize soccer league. He’s presently the native consultant for the Junior Rescue Simulation. We spoke to Roberto about his RoboCup journey, from the junior to the main leagues, and his expertise of RoboCup occasions.

When was your first RoboCup occasion and which competitors did you participate in?

I began in 2016 within the Junior leagues with my highschool and I took half within the rescue simulation competitors (though I initially joined the on-stage competitors). This primary occasion truly occurred in Portugal, and it was much like a workshop. We certified to go to the world cup in rescue simulation, in Leipzig, Germany, and we ended up in second place. That was very nice, and it was my first contact with RoboCup, and with robotics usually. I’d been working with electronics up to now, however simulation gave me a little bit of an introduction to the extra theoretical facets of robotics, and to AI on the whole. Rescue simulation makes you consider methods to make the robots unbiased and never manually managed by people.

Roberto’s first RoboCup in 2016, Leipzig, pictured with the Singapore crew celebrating after the finals.

May you inform us in regards to the subsequent RoboCup occasions that you just took half in?

In 2017 we certified to go to Nagoya, Japan, which was not simply an incredible RoboCup, however an incredible journey. That’s one other advantage of robotics, you get to fulfill a whole lot of new folks in new international locations. We did fairly nicely on this competitors as nicely, I believe we reached fifth place.

After that we went to European RoboCup Junior in Italy. The next 12 months was my final RoboCup as a junior, which was in Sydney. That was additionally an fascinating occasion and I bought to talk a bit extra with the majors and perceive how their groups labored. By this level, I had gained extra expertise, and I felt able to get entangled with a significant league RoboCup crew.

There’s a massive hole between the junior and main leagues. After I joined my crew (the Daring Hearts), a lot of the crew have been PhDs and I used to be only a second 12 months bachelor’s pupil so it was fairly exhausting to choose up all of the data. Nevertheless, in case you are persistent sufficient and you have an interest in, and enthusiastic about, robotics you’ll get the hold of it and also you’ll be taught by trial and error.

EuroRoboCup 2022 in Portugal. Roberto (kneeling in photograph) was a part of the organising committee.

When was your first competitors with the crew within the main league?

My first competitors was truly final 12 months, in Thailand. We didn’t carry out as we wish to, nonetheless, there may be rather more to RoboCup than simply the competitors – it’s now extra of a scientific and knowledge-sharing occasion, it’s distinctive. Simply this 12 months, in Bordeaux, we had an issue with our robots. Each time we disconnected the ethernet cable, the robotic simply stopped enjoying, and we couldn’t work out what was taking place. I requested one other crew that was utilizing the identical software program – that they had discovered the issue earlier than they usually informed us the way to remedy it. I don’t suppose you’ll see that in different competitions. Each crew has a joint goal which is making science progress, making friendships, and making different groups higher by sharing their data. That’s actually distinctive.

How did you be a part of the Daring Hearts crew?

I made a decision to do my grasp’s within the UK (on the College of Hertfordshire), to expertise a unique nation and a unique type of training. After I joined, I knew there was a crew so I used to be already wanting ahead to becoming a member of. After a few years of labor, we lastly bought to go to a contest as a crew. It’s been an incredible time and an enormous studying expertise.

What’s your position on the crew?

In our crew, everybody does a little bit of all the pieces. We nonetheless have a whole lot of issues to resolve – on each the {hardware} and software program aspect. All of us presently are pc scientists so it’s a bit extra of a wrestle to work on the {hardware} aspect. So, I do a little bit of all the pieces, each AI and non-AI associated issues. For instance, I’ve achieved some 3d modelling for the robots, and I’m presently engaged on the balancing downside. All of us work collectively on the issues which is superb since you get to see a little bit of all the pieces and be taught from everybody. Robotics is a really multidisciplinary area. You get to study all types of subjects: mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, machine studying, coding on the whole.

The Daring Hearts’ qualification video for this 12 months’s RoboCup competitors

May you inform us about this 12 months’s competitors (which passed off in Bordeaux)?

This 12 months we have been much more ready than final 12 months, after we’d simply come again from COVID, and all of our skilled members had lately left the crew, attributable to ending their PhDs and beginning work. Making a profitable robotic crew is a large integration downside. There are such a lot of items that must go collectively and work completely for the robots to operate, and if one fails it seems like your system isn’t doing something. We bought strolling working completely this 12 months, we had imaginative and prescient working nicely too, and we had a steady choice tree, and we have been in a position to take heed to the controller (which is sort of a referee and passes on details about fouls, sport begin and stops and many others.). Nevertheless, we had some bugs within the choice tree that made all the pieces collapse and we spent a whole lot of time attempting to debug it. This occurs to a whole lot of groups. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to nonetheless respect the work and progress of what they’ve achieved.

RoboCup 2023 in Bordeaux. Roberto (left) with Daring Hearts teammates.

What are the rapid plans for the crew?

We at the moment are occupied with becoming a member of the simulation competitors, which is a part of our league. It takes place within the winter season and we’re planning on becoming a member of to work on our software program. The transition between simulation and {hardware} is kind of exhausting. You want a superb simulation base to have the ability to switch straight the data to the robotic. We’re engaged on having an excellent simulation so we will switch, at the least extra simply, the data learnt in simulation to the robots.

RoboCup is transferring extra in the direction of AI and studying, which we will see within the 3d simulation. The robots be taught a whole lot of the movement via reinforcement studying, for instance. Within the bodily leagues it’s not as straightforward as we’ve to switch that to the actual world, the place there may be play within the joints, there’s backlash, there’s play within the 3d elements – there are a whole lot of variables that aren’t taken into consideration in simulations.

How has being a part of RoboCup impressed your research and analysis?

Each time I am going to RoboCup I come out occupied with what I’m going to do subsequent. I couldn’t be extra impressed. It’s a very intense area however I like it. It makes you need to work actually exhausting and it makes you enthusiastic about science. I did my bachelor’s challenge associated to RoboCup, I joined a grasp’s course on robotics, I maintain asking my Professors in the event that they need to begin a crew again in Portugal. I’m going to do my grasp’s thesis on robotics, on humanoids. I believe humanoids are a really advanced and fascinating problem. There isn’t any one single answer.

About Roberto

Roberto Figueiredo is a Portuguese, AI-focused pc scientist with a bachelor’s diploma from the College of Hertfordshire. He presently pursuing a grasp’s in Robotics and Clever Techniques from the College of Aveiro, and is enthusiastic about advancing his experience in robotics. He has lengthy been very smitten by robots and AI, being a participant in RoboCup since 2016 within the Rescue Simulation league. He has since grow to be native consultant for the Rescue League in Portugal and joined a Main crew, Daring Hearts, within the Child Dimension league, some of the difficult in RoboCup Humanoid Soccer.