HumanoidLeagueRules2015-06-29
RoboCup Soccer Humanoid League Rules and Setup
For the2015Competition in Hefei
Louis Vuitton Cup
Final version of June29th,2015
RoboCup Humanoid League Mailing List(for important announcements,rule discussion and questions):https://https://www.wendangku.net/doc/c315515500.html,/mailman/listinfo/robocup-humanoid RoboCup Humanoid League Home Page:http://www.tzi.de/humanoid/
RoboCup Humanoid League Wiki:https://www.wendangku.net/doc/c315515500.html,/wiki/Humanoid League
Contents
Table of Contents i Preamble iii 1The Field of Play1
1.1Playing Surface (1)
1.2Goals (2)
1.3Lighting (2)
1.4People Area (2)
2The Ball5 3The Number of Players5
3.1Incapable Players (5)
3.2Substitutions (5)
3.3Temporal Absence (6)
4The Design of the Robots7
4.1Robot Height (7)
4.2Weight Restrictions (7)
4.3Size Restrictions (8)
4.4Sensors (8)
4.5Communication and Control (9)
4.6Colors and Markers (10)
4.7Safety (11)
4.8Robustness (11)
4.9Handling (11)
5The Referee12 6The Assistant Referees13 7The Duration of the Match14
7.1Periods (14)
7.2Timeouts (14)
8The Start and Restart of Play15
8.1Preliminaries (15)
8.2Kick-o? (15)
8.3Dropped Ball (16)
9The Ball In and Out of Play17 10The Method of Scoring17
11O?side18 12Fouls and Misconduct19
12.1Ball Manipulation (19)
12.2Physical Contact (19)
12.3Attack and Defense (20)
12.4Indirect Free Kick (20)
12.5Yellow and Red Cards (22)
13Free Kicks23 14The Penalty Kick24 15The Throw-In26 16The Goal Kick26 17The Corner Kick26 18The Dribble and Kick Competition(AdultSize)27 19The Technical Challenge28
19.1Part A:Push Recovery (28)
19.2Part B:Goal-Kick from Moving Ball (29)
19.3Part C:High Jump (29)
19.4Part D:High-Kick Challenge (30)
20The Competitions and Trophies31
20.1Setup and Inspections (31)
20.2Referee Duty (31)
20.3Competitions (31)
20.4Best Humanoid (32)
20.5Trophies (33)
A The Trend in Rule Evolution for the Next Years34 Acknowledgements35
Preamble
These rules are intended to ensure a fair competition in the RoboCup Soccer Humanoid League.They want to encourage creativity and technical development.
The rules are oriented towards the FIFA Laws of the Game.However,they still deviate in many points from the FIFA laws,but it is intended to decrease these deviations in the future,in order to work towards the long-term goal of playing with humanoid robots against human soccer teams.
Among the research challenges that are speci?c to the Humanoid League is maintaining the dynamic stability of the bipedal robots while they are walking,running,kicking,and performing other tasks.Another example is the coordination of perception(with a human-like limited?eld of view)and locomotion.The humanoid soccer robots must also be robust enough to deal with challenges from other players.
Size Classes
As it is not feasible to have humanoid robots of very di?erent sizes play against each other,the competitions are held in three size classes:KidSize,TeenSize and AdultSize. See Section4for the de?nition of these classes.
Male and Female
References to the male gender in the rule book in respect of referees,assistant referees, players and o?cials are for simpli?cation and apply to both males and females.
1The Field of Play
The competitions take place on a rectangular?eld,which contains two goals and?eld lines,as shown in Fig.1.
Figure1:Humanoid robot soccer?eld(not to scale).
Table1:Dimensions of the rectangular?eld of soccer play(in cm).
KidSize TeenSize&AdultSize
A Field length900900
B Field width600600
C Goal depth5060
D Goal width180260
E Goal area length60100
F Goal area width345500
G Penalty mark distance180210
H Center circle diameter150150
I Border strip width(min.)70
1.1Playing Surface
The?eld consists of a?at and even ground which is covered with arti?cial green grass with a yarn length of approximately30mm.The white lines are5cm wide.Line segments of10cm length are used to denote penalty mark and the kick-o?position(center mark).
The longer outer?eld lines are called touch lines,whereas the shorter outer?eld lines are called goal lines.The?eld is surrounded by a border strip,which is also covered with green arti?cial grass.The world outside the border strip is unde?ned.
1.2Goals
A goal is placed in the middle of each goal line.Both of the goals have a white frame. Nets in grey or black color are attached to the goals and the ground behind the goal, provided that they are properly supported and do not interfere with the goalkeeper.The mesh size for this net is suggested to be less than4cm in order to keep the risk of entanglement low.The upper side of the goal should not be covered by a net in order to allow for easy access to the robots from above.The goals for the KidSize?eld have a crossbar at a height of110cm.The height of the net is100cm and it is open from the top(see Fig.2).The TeenSize and AdultSize goals have a crossbar at height of180cm and the height of the net is120cm.The goal posts and crossbars are cylindrical and have a diameter of10cm(see Fig.2).
1.3Lighting
The lighting conditions depend on the actual competition site.Lighting temperature may di?er signi?cantly from previous years,as only ceiling lights are used.The?eld is illuminated presuming a su?cient bright and constant lighting on the?eld(i.e.no daylight).
1.4People Area
Around the?eld of play(Figure1)a?eld zone is de?ned on site in which only the referee (Section5),the assistant referees(Section6)and the two robot handlers are allowed to stay during the game.All persons in the?eld zone must not show colors below their waist that are the same as or similar to any of the de?ned colors on the?eld.The?eld zone must give su?cient space to the referees and robot handlers for passing behind the goals. All other people(including other team members,organizational sta?,representatives of the press and the media etc.)must stay outside the?eld zone.
Goalposts and crossbar made from3
white cylinders with a diameter of10cm
(approx.4inches).The crossbar is in
110cm height.
The net:
?has a height of100cm
?is of grey or black color
?is properly supported,in a way
to minimize interference with the
goal keeper
White goalposts and crossbar made
from cylinders with a diameter of10cm
(approx.4inches).The crossbar is in
180cm height.
The net:
?has a height of120cm
?is of grey or black color
?is properly supported,in a way
to minimize interference with the
goal keeper
Figure2:KidSize(top)and Teen-/AdultSize(middle)goals;bird’s eye view of goal layout(bottom).
Figure 3:Humanoid soccer ?elds with goals to scale for KidSize (top)and Teen/AdultSize (bottom).
2The Ball
Each size class uses its own ball which is at least50%white.The remaining colors of the ball are unde?ned but should not contain signi?cant amounts of cyan,magenta,?eld green or white.
1.KidSize:FIFA size1ball(diameter approx.13cm,weight approx.150g)1.
2.TeenSize:FIFA size3ball.
3.AdultSize:FIFA size5ball.
3The Number of Players
A match is played by two teams,each consisting of not more than four players in Kid-Size and not more than two players in TeenSize,one of whom must be designated as goalkeeper.A match may not start if either team consists of less than one player. 3.1Incapable Players
Players not capable of play(e.g.players not able to walk on two legs,players not able to stand,or players with obvious malfunctions)are not permitted to participate in the game.They must be removed from the?eld.It is up to the referee to judge whether a player is capable of play.The referee may ask the team leader of a player suspected to be incapable of play to demonstrate playing ability at any time.A?eld player that is not able to get back into a stable standing or walking posture from a fall within20seconds will be removed from the?eld for30seconds removal penalty and has to reenter the ?eld according to5.9.
3.2Substitutions
Up to two players per game can be substituted by other players of the same team.The referee must be informed prior to the substitution.A substitute only enters the?eld after the player being replaced left the?eld and after receiving a signal from the referee.Any of the other players may change places with the goalkeeper,provided that the referee is informed before the change is made and that the change is made during a stoppage of the match.Changing places/roles between a?eld player and a goalie does not count as substitution.
1These balls are often sold as mini ball or skill balls.An example for a legal ball would be the Adidas Mini Ball Brazuca,available at https://www.wendangku.net/doc/c315515500.html,/Adidas-Brazuca-World-Soccer-White/dp/B00D09F6L6or balls in the classical black/white design.
3.3Temporal Absence
Servicing robots on the playing?eld is not permitted.A robot may be taken out of the?eld for service,after receiving permission from the referee.Taking out a robot for service does not count as a substitution.A serviced robot may not come into play again before30s elapsed after it was taken out.It has to enter the?eld according to5.9.
4The Design of the Robots
Robots participating in the Humanoid League competitions must have a human-like body plan,as shown in Fig.4.They must consist of two legs,two arms,and one head,which are attached to a trunk.The robots must be able to stand upright on their feet and to walk on their legs.The only allowed modes of locomotion are bipedal walking and running.
All actions of the robots must be kinematically equivalent to humanoid motions.
Figure4:Example of a humanoid robot body plan(left)and standing upright pose (right).
4.1Robot Height
4.1.1.H top is de?ned as the height of the robot when standing upright(with fully extended knees,cf.Fig.4right)and H com denotes the height of the robot’s center of mass,measured in upright posture.
4.1.2.Based on H top,the following size restrictions apply:
?40cm≤H top≤90cm to play in the KidSize class,
?80cm≤H top≤140cm to play in the TeenSize class,
?130cm≤H top≤180cm to play in the AdultSize class.
4.2Weight Restrictions
?The maximum weight for robots allowed to play in the TeenSize class is20kg.
?The minimum weight for robots allowed to play in the AdultSize class is10kg.
4.3Size Restrictions
All robots participating in the Humanoid League must comply with the following restric-tions:
1.Each foot must?t into a rectangle of area(
2.2·H com)2/32.
2.Considering the rectangle enclosing the convex hull of the foot,the ratio between
the longest side of the rectangle and the shortest one,shall not exceed2.5.
3.The robot must?t into a cylinder of diameter0.55·H top.
4.The sum of the lengths of the two arms and the width of the torso at the shoulder
must be less than1.2·H top.The length of an arm is de?ned as the sum of the maximum length of any link that forms part of the arm.Both arms must be the same length.
5.The robot does not possess a con?guration where it is extended longer than
1.5·H top.
6.The length of the legs H leg,including the feet,satis?es0.35·H top≤H leg≤
0.7·H top.
7.The height of the head H head,including the neck,satis?es0.05·H top≤H head≤
0.25·H top.H head is de?ned as the vertical distance from the axis of the?rst arm
joint at the shoulder to the top of the head.
8.The leg length is measured while the robot is standing up straight.The length is
measured from the?rst rotating joint where its axis lies in the plane parallel to the standing ground to the tip of the foot.
4.4Sensors
Teams participating in the Humanoid League competitions are encouraged to equip their robots with sensors that have an equivalent in human senses.These sensors must be placed at a position roughly equivalent to the location of the human’s biological sensors. In particular,
1.The only active external sensor allowed is sound(“human-like”with respect to
volume and frequency)with one loudspeaker on the robot.The loudspeaker may be placed in the head,neck or trunk of the robot.Any other active sensor(emitting light,sound,or electromagnetic waves into the environment in order to measure re?ections)is not allowed.
2.External2sensors,such as cameras and up to two microphones,may not be placed
in the legs or arms or the torso of the robots.They must be placed in the robot’s head and above any neck joint.
2External sensors are sensors that measure external state(e.g.sound,light).Correspondingly internal sensors measure internal states of the robot(e.g.temperature,posture,pitch,etc).
3.The?eld of view of the robots is limited at any time to180degrees.This means
that the maximum angle between any two points in the overlap of the?eld of view of all cameras mounted on the robot must be less than180degrees.Also the pan-tilt motion of the head and the cameras mounted on the robot’s head is restricted to be more human like not only with respect to the?eld of view but also to the range of motion of the neck joints.Therefore,the mechanism to pan the camera is limited to270degree pan which means±135degrees from the position looking straight ahead.The mechanism to tilt the camera is limited to±90degrees(measured from the horizontal line).Furthermore,if positioned at the center mark the robot may not be able to see both goals in any tilt angle and in any standing or walking posture of the robot.
Figure5:Illustration of?eld of view.
“Field of view”refers to the?eld of view of all cameras together and of how much of the soccer?eld all cameras together can view at most at one time.By how much the soccer?eld can be viewed by the robot at most one time is de?ned by
a half sphere with its center axis pointing in the forward direction with respect to
the robot’s frontal plane as shown in Figure5.
4.The number of cameras is limited to a stereo vision setup(i.e.,max.2cameras
with a large overlap)only.Monocular vision is also allowed.
5.Touch sensors,force sensors,and temperature sensors may be placed at any posi-
tion on the robot.
6.Sensors inside the robot may measure all quantities of interest,including(but not
limited to)voltages,currents,forces,movements,accelerations,magnetic?eld and rotational speeds.They can be at any position inside the robot.
4.5Communication and Control
4.5.1.Robots participating in the Humanoid League competitions must act au-tonomously while a competition is running.No external power supply,teleoperation,
remote control,or remote brain of any kind is allowed.
4.5.2.Robots may communicate only via the wireless network provided by the organizers which must support the referee box.The total bandwidth of the robots belonging to one team may not exceed1Mbit/s.The robots must not rely on availability or quality of the wireless network.They must be able to play if the network is not available or of low quality.Only robots are allowed to communicate by WLAN.Any other computers of team members are only allowed to communicate by tethered LAN.No other wireless communication is allowed onsite.All other wireless hardware must be deactivated.A team may be disquali?ed if one of the team members violates this rule.
4.5.3.Robots in play may communicate with each other at any time during a game.Any kind of transmission from an external computer or an out of play robot to the playing robots is prohibited.This implies that any monitoring is only done by receiving UDP communication from the robots using an external computer connected by tethered LAN to the o?cial wireless router.Sending any transmission from an external computer to the robots has to take place during a timeout or using a direct cable between the computer and the robot during maintenance of the robot.
During the game an o?cial game controller/referee box will be used.It uses UDP to broadcast information to the robots like elapsed time,current score,game state(ready, set,playing,?nished)and the robot-speci?c penalized state.The source code is open.3 To encourage teams to use the referee box,15seconds advantage is given to teams using the referee box in any stoppage of the game(cf.Section8).
4.5.4.No humans are allowed on the?eld while the ball is in play.Robot handlers must receive permission from the referee prior to entering the?eld.Each team may designate only one person as robot handler.The robot handler of a team may not touch a robot of another team in order to avoid any(unintentional or intentional)damage to that robot.
4.6Colors and Markers
4.6.1.Robots participating in the Humanoid League competitions must be mostly black or of dark grey color(i.e.RAL7011Iron Grey or darker)and non re?ective.Robots may also be colored in aluminimum-like silver,grey or white but then their feet must be colored black.Colors similar to green or the opponent team’s team markers must be avoided.Arms,legs and bodies of the robot must be of solid shape appearance.
4.6.2.The robots must be marked with team markers.These markers are colored magenta(referred to as red)for one team and cyan(referred to as blue)for the other team.Robot legs and arms must be covered by team markers.From each side of the robot,at least one team marker must be visible on both an arm and a leg.The marker must be at least5cm in height and as wide as the leg or arm of the robot as seen from that side.If both teams cannot agree,which team color to use,a coin will be?ipped15 minutes prior to the game to assign the team colors.
3The source code of the game controller/referee box is available from https://www.wendangku.net/doc/c315515500.html,/fumanoids/gamecontroller/tree/HL,see also http://www.tzi.de/humanoid.
4.6.3.The robots of each team must be uniquely identi?able.They must be marked with numbers or names.The goal keeper robot must be marked uniquely that it can be easily distinguished from the other robots of a team by the referees.
4.7Safety
4.7.1.Robots participating in the Humanoid League competitions must not pose any danger to humans,other robots,or the?eld of play.This speci?cially includes construc-tions that are objectively able to cause said dangers,for example poles sticking out of the robot.Anyone is allowed to take every action necessary to prevent urgent harm. 4.7.2.The robots must be constructed in a way that o?enses described in Section12are avoided.Robots violating the safety requirements of4.7.1will be excluded by the referee from the ongoing game.They may be excluded by the league organization committee from the remainder of the tournament.
4.8Robustness
Robots participating in the Humanoid League competitions must be constructed in a robust way.They must maintain structural integrity during contact with the?eld,the ball,or other players.Their sensing systems must be able to tolerate signi?cant levels of noise and disturbance caused by other players,the referees,robot handlers,and the audience.
4.9Handling
Robots are encouraged to feature a handle attached in the neck area for vertical lifting. They should tolerate this without causing harm to themselves or the person holding the handle.
5The Referee12
5The Referee
5.1.Each match is controlled by a referee who has full authority to enforce these rules
in connection with the match to which he has been appointed.
5.2.The referee ensures that the?eld and the ball are in proper condition.He ensures
that the robot players meet the requirements of Section4.
5.3.The referee acts as timekeeper and keeps a record of the match.He stops,suspends
or terminates the match,at his discretion,for any infringements of the rules or because of outside interference of any kind.
5.4.The referee allows play to continue when the team against which an o?ense has
been committed will bene?t from such an advantage and penalizes the original o?ense if the anticipated advantage does not ensue at that time.
5.5.He punishes the more serious o?ense when a player commits more than one o?ense
at the same time and takes disciplinary action against players guilty of cautionable and sending-o?o?enses.He is not obliged to take this action immediately but must do so when the ball next goes out of play.
5.6.The referee takes action against team o?cials who fail to conduct themselves in
a responsible manner and may,at his discretion,expel them from the?eld of play
and its immediate surrounds.He ensures that no unauthorized persons enter the ?eld of play.
5.7.The referee acts on the advice of assistant referees regarding incidents which he
has not seen.Some referee duties,like time keeping and keeping a record of the match,may be delegated to one of the assistant referees.
5.8.The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play are?nal.The ref-
eree may only change a decision on realizing that it is incorrect or,at his discretion, on the advice of an assistant referee,provided that he has not restarted play. 5.9.The referee decides from which of the two touch lines a penalized,serviced or
substituted player may re-enter the?eld.The player has to be positioned50cm away from the center of the touch line on its own half and face the center of the ?eld when entering.
5.10.The referee may decide at any point before or during a game to relocate any
objects around the?eld,or direct persons to another position around the?eld.
The application of this rule needs to be well considered and should be reserved for situations where the placement of objects or persons seems constructed by one team to create arti?cial landmarks to help the robots’localization4.
4The intent of using same-colored goals is to remove arti?cial landmarks.Robots should be able to localize with the playing?eld and its normal surroundings.Introducing new team-speci?c arti?cial landmarks is against the spirit and intention of the league’s progress.
6The Assistant Referees13
6The Assistant Referees
6.1.One or more assistant referees are appointed for a match whose duties,subject to
the decision of the referee,are to indicate when the whole of the ball has passed out of the?eld of play,which side is entitled to a corner kick,goal kick or throw-in, and when misconduct or any other incident has occurred out of the view of the referee.
6.2.The assistant referees might be assigned additional duties,such as time keeping,
keeping a record of the match and controlling the game controller/referee box. 6.3.The assistant referees also assist the referee to control the match in accordance
with these rules.
6.4.In the event of undue interference or improper conduct,the referee will relieve an
assistant referee of his duties and make a report to the league organizing committee.
7The Duration of the Match14
7The Duration of the Match
7.1Periods
7.1.1.The match lasts two equal periods of10minutes.Players are entitled to an interval at half-time.The half-time interval must not exceed5minutes.
7.1.2.Allowance is made in either period for all time lost through,e.g.substitution(s), timeouts,and wasting time.The allowance for time lost is at the discretion of the referee. If at the end of either period the referee has the impression that a goal is imminent, allowance is made for up to30s at the referee’s discretion to?nish the current move.
7.1.3.In the knock-out games of a tournament two further equal periods of5minutes each are played if the game is not decided after the regular playing time.If during regular playing time none of the two teams in a knock-out match was able to kick the ball to reach their respective opponent’s goal the extra time is skipped and the game immediately continues by the?ve alternating penalty kick trials(cf.Section14).
7.2Timeouts
A team may extend a stoppage of the game by taking a timeout.During a timeout robots may be serviced.Each team may take at most one timeout per period.If a team is not ready to resume the game when the referee wants to start the game,it has to take a timeout.If there is no timeout left,the referee will start the game anyway.A timeout ends automatically after120s.A timeout also ends when the team signals its end to the referee.
8The Start and Restart of Play
8.1Preliminaries
8.1.1.Access to the?eld is given to both teams at least15minutes prior to the scheduled kick-o?time.A coin is tossed and the team which wins the toss decides which goal it will attack in the?rst half of the match.The other team takes the kick-o?to start the match.The team which wins the toss takes the kick-o?to start the second half of the match.In the second half of the match the teams change ends and attack the opposite goals.
8.1.2.If both teams cannot agree on the color of their team markers,a coin is tossed and the markers are exchanged at halftime.
8.1.3.A match must start at the scheduled time.In exceptional situations only,the referee may re-adjust the time for starting the game in accordance with both team leaders.All robots of a team are started(and stopped)by receiving a signal through wireless communication from outside the?eld.In exceptional cases,starting and stopping robots manually may be allowed by the referee.
8.2Kick-o?
8.2.1.A kick-o?is a way of starting or restarting play at the start of the match,after a goal has been scored,at the start of the second half of the match,at the start of each period of extra time,where applicable.After a team scores a goal,the kick-o?is taken by the other team.
8.2.2.A goal may not be scored directly from the kick-o?.Either the ball must move 20cm from the kick-o?point or must be touched by another player before being kicked into the goal.
If the ball is kicked directly into the goal the kick-o?is awarded to the opposing team.
8.2.3.The procedure for kick-o?is as follows:
?The referee gives the signal“READY”that all robots have to reach their own half of the?eld.Robots not being able to position autonomously in their own half may be placed by their respective robot handler.
?The opponents of the team taking the kick-o?are outside the center circle until the ball is in play.
?The referee gives the signal“SET”.The referee calls robots illegally positioned to be set back manually by the respective robot handler to the outer line of their goal area.One?eld player of a manually or illegally positioned team su?ers a removal penalty(cf.Section12).
?The ball is stationary on the center mark.
?The referee gives the signal“PLAY”or whistles.
?The ball is in play when it is touched or10seconds elapsed after the signal.
8.2.4.Robots being able to autonomously reposition themselves can take any position on the?eld that is consistent with above requirements.Robots not able to autonomously reposition themselves,e.g.robots being carried or joysticked around by human team members,have to start from a position not closer to the?eld halfway line than the outer line of the goal area.If all robots of the team executing the kick-o?cannot autonomously reposition themselves,then one robot may be placed into the center circle.
8.2.5.If one or both of the teams in a match have permission to use a manual startup procedure,the referee gives the two signals“SET”and“PLAY”with an interval of exactly10seconds.Robot players without remote start capability may be started on the ?eld after the“SET”signal.They may not move before the“PLAY”signal was given by the referee.Robots with autonomous positioning ability are given between15and30 seconds for re-positioning after a goal has been scored by one of the teams before the “SET”signal for kick-o?is given by the referee.All human team members must leave the?eld of play immediately after the“SET”signal and before the“PLAY”signal. 8.2.6.A team which uses manual kick-o?and not kick-o?with the referee box is punished by a penalty of having to wait for15seconds after the signal“PLAY”before they are allowed to locomote.If such a team has kick-o?then at the signal“PLAY”the referee immediately moves the ball from the kick-o?position to a position somewhere on the center line and outside of the center circle and the ball is in play.This rule does not apply if the referee box is out of commission.
8.2.7.If a robot is moving for a signi?cant time between“SET”and“PLAY”signals or repeatedly violates Rules8.2.3or8.2.6,it will be punished by a removal penalty(cf. Section12).
8.2.8.If a robot handler has not left the?eld by the“PLAY”signal,a yellow card is shown to the robot closest to the incident.If the game has been in?uenced,the kick-o?will be repeated and the team that committed the o?ence has to start from a position not closer to the?eld halfway line than the outer line of the own goal area.
8.3Dropped Ball
8.3.1.A dropped ball is a way of restarting the match after a temporary stoppage which becomes necessary,while the ball is in play,for any reason not mentioned elsewhere in the rules.In particular,the referee may call a game-stuck situation if there is no progress of the game for30s.
8.3.2.The game is continued at the center mark.A goal can be scored directly from a dropped ball.The procedure for dropped ball is the same as for kick-o?,except that the robots of both teams must be outside the center circle.The ball is in play immediately after the referee gives the signal.