The Major Leagues are the RoboCup leagues for the researchers,scientists and students. The leagues are assigned to the four categories RoboCupSoccer, RoboCupRescue, RoboCup@Home and RoboCupIndustrial.
Robots designed by the teams themselves with a human-like body shape and human-like sensors play in three size classes: KidSize, TeenSize and AdultSize. Maintaining balance when moving and shooting is one of the main problems.
All teams play with the humanoid Nao robots from the French company Aldebaran, so this league is a pure software competition. The robots are equipped with two cameras and ultrasonic distance sensors. The competition offers new teams a (somewhat) easier entry into RoboCup.
In this league, up to six fully autonomous robots per team play on a 24x18m field. The robots are mostly equipped with omnidirectional landing gear and omnidirectional vision systems. There are special kicking mechanisms that can also kick the ball high.
Robots with a diameter of 18 cm play in this league. A camera is mounted above the playing field to capture the game situation. The control and team coordination are also outsourced to an external PC. The robots are fast and pass the ball with high speed to their teammates.
The robots and the playing field are simulated so that the teams can fully concentrate on software development. In a 2D simulation, 11 play against 11 simple software agents. In the 3D simulation, the complex Nao robots are used, whose joints have to be controlled.
The robots have to find survivors and create maps in a recreated disaster scenario. They mostly move on tracks and are equipped with a variety of sensors, such as laser scanners and thermal cameras. The intuitive control interface for the tele-operator is important.
In this league, real rescue robots and an arena are simulated using the USARSim environment. The simulated robots have sensors and are controlled by humans. The programs developed for the virtual robots can be transferred relatively easily to real robots.
Bereits 2006 wurde die @Home Liga gestartet mit dem Ziel, Menschen in ihrer häuslichen Umgebung mit Hilfe von Servicerobotern zu unterstützen und zu entlasten. Diese Thematik erlangt durch den demographischen Wandel immer größere Bedeutung.
The focus here is on mobile packaging in an industrial environment. Problems of navigation, object recognition, object handling and planning have to be solved. The teams often use the KUKA youBot, which is expanded with sensor technology and additional computing power.