Interview with Roberto Figueiredo: the RoboCup expertise

Roberto Figueiredo is a grasp’s scholar on the College of Aveiro. He’s a member of the Daring Hearts RoboCup staff which competes within the Humanoid KidSize soccer league. He’s at the moment the native consultant for the Junior Rescue Simulation. We spoke to Roberto about his RoboCup journey, from the junior to the most important 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 typically. I’d been working with electronics up to now, however simulation gave me a little bit of an introduction to the extra theoretical elements of robotics, and to AI typically. 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 staff celebrating after the finals.

May you inform us in regards to the subsequent RoboCup occasions that you simply 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 benefit of robotics, you get to satisfy a number of new individuals in new international locations. We did fairly properly on this competitors as properly, I feel 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 received to speak 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 become involved with a significant league RoboCup staff.

There’s a large hole between the junior and main leagues. After I joined my staff (the Daring Hearts), a lot of the staff have been PhDs and I used to be only a second 12 months bachelor’s scholar so it was fairly arduous to select up all of the data. Nonetheless, in case you are persistent sufficient and you have an interest in, and keen about, robotics you’ll get the dangle 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 staff 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 determine what was taking place. I requested one other staff that was utilizing the identical software program – they’d found out the issue earlier than they usually informed us tips on how to remedy it. I don’t suppose you’ll see that in different competitions. Each staff 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 staff?

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 fashion of schooling. After I joined, I knew there was a staff so I used to be already trying ahead to becoming a member of. After a few years of labor, we lastly received to go to a contest as a staff. It’s been an incredible time and an enormous studying expertise.

What’s your position on the staff?

In our staff, everybody does a little bit of all the things. We nonetheless have a number of issues to unravel – on each the {hardware} and software program aspect. All of us at the moment are laptop 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 things, each AI and non-AI associated issues. For instance, I’ve finished some 3d modelling for the robots, and I’m at the moment engaged on the balancing drawback. All of us work collectively on the issues which is wonderful since you get to see a little bit of all the things and be taught from everybody. Robotics is a really multidisciplinary area. You get to find out about all types of matters: mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, machine studying, coding typically.

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 just lately left the staff, on account of ending their PhDs and beginning work. Making a profitable robotic staff is a big integration drawback. There are such a lot of items that have to go collectively and work completely for the robots to perform, and if one fails it seems like your system isn’t doing something. We received strolling working completely this 12 months, we had imaginative and prescient working properly too, and we had a steady choice tree, and we have been capable of take heed to the controller (which is sort of a referee and passes on details about fouls, recreation begin and stops and so forth.). Nonetheless, we had some bugs within the choice tree that made all the things collapse and we spent a number of time attempting to debug it. This occurs to a number of groups. Nonetheless, you possibly can nonetheless respect the work and progress of what they’ve finished.

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

What are the fast plans for the staff?

We at the moment are excited about 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 sort of arduous. You want simulation base to have the ability to switch instantly the data to the robotic. We’re engaged on having an excellent simulation so we will switch, a minimum of extra simply, the data learnt in simulation to the robots.

RoboCup is transferring extra in direction of AI and studying, which we will see within the 3d simulation. The robots be taught a number of the movement by reinforcement studying, for instance. Within the bodily leagues it’s not as simple as we have now 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 number 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 excited about what I’m going to do subsequent. I couldn’t be extra impressed. It’s a very intense area however I adore it. It makes you need to work actually arduous and it makes you keen about science. I did my bachelor’s venture 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 staff again in Portugal. I’m going to do my grasp’s thesis on robotics, on humanoids. I feel humanoids are a really complicated and fascinating problem. There is no such thing as a one single resolution.

About Roberto

Roberto Figueiredo is a Portuguese, AI-focused laptop scientist with a bachelor’s diploma from the College of Hertfordshire. He at the moment pursuing a grasp’s in Robotics and Clever Methods from the College of Aveiro, and is keen 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 turn into native consultant for the Rescue League in Portugal and joined a Main staff, Daring Hearts, within the Child Dimension league, one of the vital difficult in RoboCup Humanoid Soccer.