Research on RoboCup Soccer

  Dutch Nao Team.

In the RoboCup Standard Platform League all teams compete with identical robots. The robots operate fully autonomously, i.e. there is no external control, neither by humans nor by computers. The current standard platform used is the humanoid NAO by Aldebaran. The Dutch Nao Team is participating in this league since 2010. See this page for a collection of team fotos, qualification documents and technical reports; an overview from 2010 to 2023.

 
  Dutch Nao Team at the Grand Opening of LAB42

The University of Amsterdam has also been active in other RoboCup soccer leagues:

• Four-Legged league - Dutch Aibo Team - (2004 - 2006)
• Soccer Simulation - UvA Trilearn - (2001 - 2005).
• Soccer Midsize league - Clockwork Orange - Seattle - 2001.
• Soccer Simulation league - Windmill Wanderers - Paris - 1998.

Articles and papers

• Xavier Monté, Joey van der Kaaij, Rogier van der Weerd and Arnoud Visser, Using Neural Factorization of Shape and Reflectance for Ball Detection, Proc. of the 26th RoboCup International Symposium, Bordeaux, France, July 2023.
• Caitlin Lagrand, Patrick de Kok, Sebastien Negrijn, Michiel van der Meer and Arnoud Visser, "Autonomous robot soccer matches", in the Proceedings of the 28th Belgian-Netherlands Conference on Artificial Intelligence (BNAIC 2016), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, November 10-11, 2016, pp 237-238.
• Caitlin Lagrand, Michiel van der Meer and Arnoud Visser, "The Roasted Tomato Challenge for a Humanoid Robot", IEEE International Conference on Autonomous Robot Systems and Competitions (ICARSC), Bragança, Portugal, May 4-6, 2016.
• Niels W. Backer and Arnoud Visser, "Learning to recognize horn and whistle sounds for humanoid robots", in the Proceedings of the 26th Belgian-Netherlands Conference on Artificial Intelligence (BNAIC 2014), Nijmegen, The Netherlands, November 6-7, 2014, p. 1-8.
• Auke Wiggers and Arnoud Visser, "Discovering reoccurring motifs to predict opponent behavior", in the Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, page 33-40, Montevideo, Uruguay, November 25-29, 2013.
• Nicolò Girardi, Chiel Kooijman, Auke Wiggers and Arnoud Visser, "Automated Optimization of Walking Parameters for the Nao Humanoid Robot", in Proceedings of the 25th Belgian-Netherlands Conference on Artificial Intelligence (BNAIC 2013), page 72-79, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, November 7-8, 2013.
• Georgios Methenitis, Patrick M. de Kok, Sander Nugteren and Arnoud Visser "Orientation finding using a grid based visual compass", in Proceedings of the 25th Belgian-Netherlands Conference on Artificial Intelligence (BNAIC 2013), page 128-135, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, November 7-8, 2013.
• Arnoud Visser, David de Bos, and Hessel van der Molen. An Experimental Comparison of Mapping Methods, the Gutmann dataset. In Proceedings of the RoboCup IranOpen 2011 Symposium (RIOS11) (April 2011).
• Alexander van der Mey, Frank Smit, Kees-Jan Droog, and Arnoud Visser. Emotion Expression of an Affective State Space; a humanoid robot displaying a dynamic emotional state during a soccer game. In Proceedings of the 3rd D-CIS Human Factors Event 47–49 (November 2010).
• Jürgen Sturm, Paul van Rossum, and Arnoud Visser. Panoramic Localization in the 4-Legged League: Removing the dependence on artificial landmarks. In RoboCup 2006: Robot Soccer World Cup X (eds. G. Lakemeyer, E. Sklar, D. Sorrenti, and T. Takahashi) , Lecture Notes on Artificial Intelligence series, 4434, 387–394 (Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, October 2007)
• Bayu Slamet and Arnoud Visser, Purposeful perception by attention-steered robots , Proceedings of the 17th Dutch-Belgian Artificial Intelligence Conference, BNAIC'05, October 2005, Brussels (pp. 209-215).
• Jelle R. Kok and Nikos Vlassis. Using the max-plus algorithm for multiagent decision making in coordination graphs. In RoboCup-2005: Robot Soccer World Cup IX, Osaka, Japan, July 2005. Best Scientific Paper Award.
• Nikos Vlassis, Reinoud Elhorst, and Jelle R. Kok. Anytime algorithms for multiagent decision making using coordination graphs. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), The Hague, The Netherlands, October 2004.
• Jelle R. Kok, Matthijs T. J. Spaan, and Nikos Vlassis. Multi-robot decision making using coordination graphs. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR), pp. 1124–1129, Coimbra, Portugal, June 2003.
• Matthijs TJ Spaan, Nikos Vlassis, Frans CA Groen, High level coordination of agents based on multiagent Markov decision processes with roles, IROS'02 Workshop on Cooperative Robotics, p. 66-73, October 2002.
• Jelle R. Kok, Remco de Boer, and Nikos Vlassis. Towards an optimal scoring policy for simulated soccer agents. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems, pp. 195–198, IOS Press, Marina del Rey, California, March 2002.
• Frans CA Groen, Jeroen Roodhart, Matthijs Spaan, Raymond Donkervoort, Nikos Vlassis, A distributed world model for robot soccer that supports the development of team skills, Proceedings of the 13th Belgian-Dutch Conference on Artificial Intelligence (BNAIC’01), Amsterdam.
• Jan Lubbers and Rogier R. Spaans, The Priority/Confidence Model as a Frameworkfor Soccer Agents, in RoboCup-98, LNAI 1604, pp. 162-172, 1999.

Theses

• Lex Bolt, Predicting a robot’s position on a football field by training a machine learning algorithm on artificially generated data, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, June 23, 2023.
• Tobie Werner, Exploring the Effectiveness of Object Detection Training in Virtual Environments, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, June 23, 2023.
• Xavier Monté, Neural Factorization of Shape and Reflectance of a football Under an Unknown Illumination, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, February 3, 2023.
• Daniël van Dijk, Soccer behaviour prediction with deep neural networks in Soccer Simulation 2D, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, July 2022.
• Abel J. Oakley, Using Geometric Gradient Analysis to detect Out of Distribution Data for YOLO, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, July 2022.
• Daniël Vermaas, RoboCup - The Visual Referee Challenge, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, July 2022.
• Emiel Sanders, Understanding Behaviour of the Nao robot, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, July 2021.
• Hidde Lekanne gezegd Deprez, Enhancing simulation images with GANs, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 3 July 2020.
• Jimmy Badrie, Ball Localization in Humanoid Soccer using Machine Learning, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, February 2019.
• Ruben van Heusden, Making a robot stop a penalty - Using Q Learning and Transfer Learning, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, June 2018.
• Tobias Garritsen, Using the Extended Information Filter for Localization of Humanoid Robots on a Soccer Field, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, June 2018.
• Sébastien Negrijn, "Exploiting Symmetries to Relocalise in RoboCup Soccer", Master thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 19 December 2017.
• Caitlin G. Lagrand, Learning a Robot to Score a Penalty - Minimal Reward Reinforcement Learning, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, July 2017
• Duncan S. Ten Velthuis, Nao detection with a cascade of boosted weak classifier based on Haar-like features, Bachelor's thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, July 2014.
• Fabian Voorter, A coaching robot in the Standard Platform League, Bachelor's thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, June 2014.
• Niels W. Backer. Horn And Whistle Recognition Techniques For NAO Robots. Bachelor’s thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, June 2014.
• Christiaan Meijer, Getting a kick out of humanoid robotics : Using reinforcement learning to shape a soccer kick, Master’s thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, July 2012.
• Auke J. Wiggers. Recognizing Attack Patterns: Clustering of Optical Flow Vectors in RoboCup Soccer. Bachelor’s thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, June 2012.
• Sander van Noort, “Validation of the dynamics of a humanoid robot in USARSim“, Master’s thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam (May 2012)
• Hessel van der Molen. Self-Localization in the RoboCup Soccer Standard Platform League with the use of a Dynamic Tree. Bachelor’s thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, June 2011.
• Rory Breuk. Learning by demonstration using physical manipulation of a robot model. Bachelor’s thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, June 2009.
• David Knibbe, A Dutch Trick: the aiBo Blindfold Challenge, Master thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, August 31, 2007.
• Jürgen Sturm, An appearance-based visual compass for mobile robots, Master thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, December 18, 2006.
• Jelle Kok, Cooperation and learning in cooperative multiagent systems, PhD-thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, November 3, 2006.
• Coen Pieterse, Kleur invariantie voor de Robocup challenge – onderzoek naar een belichtings invariante methode voor object herkenning, Bachelor thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, June 20, 2004.
• Erik Burger, Using Coordination Graphs to add Prior Knowledge to the Robocup Domain, Master thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, September 30, 2003.
• Ewout Boendermaker, Een simulator voor RoboSoccer Middle Size League, Master thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, May 3, 2002.
• Matthijs Spaan, Team play among soccer robots, Master thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, April 5, 2002.
• Remco de Boer and Jelle Kok, The Incremental Development of a Synthetic Multi-Agent System: The UvA Trilearn 2001 Robotic Soccer Simulation Team, Master thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, February 28, 2002.

Technical Reports

• Dario Xavier Catarrinho, Fiona Nagelhout, Lasse van Iterson, Nuno Scholten, Visual Referee Challenge, project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, July 2, 2023.
• Rogier van der Weerd, Real-time object detection and avoidance for autonomous Nao Robots performing in the Standard Platform League, research project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, July 2021.
• Sara Aerssens, Caitlin Lagrand, Putri van der Linden, Lina Murady, Tirza Soute and Leila Talha, "Personal Teaching Aid", project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, April 2, 2017.
• Caitlin Lagrand, Douwe van der Wal and Pieter Kronemeijer, "Detecting a checkered black and white football", honour's project, UvA, February 6, 2017.
• Caitlin Lagrand and Michiel van der Meer, Towards the Humanoid Robot Butler, Project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, January 2016.
• Nicolò Girardi, Chiel Kooijman, and Auke J. Wiggers. Automated Optimization of Walking Parameters for the NAO Humanoid Robot. Project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 7 July 2013.
• Patrick M. de Kok, Georgios Methenitis and Sander Nugteren, ViCTOriA: Visual Compass To Orientate Accurately. Project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 7 July 2013.
• Amogh Gudi, Patrick de Kok, Georgios K. Methenitis, and Nikolaas Steenbergen. Feature Detection and Localization for the RoboCup Soccer SPL. Project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 5 February 2013.
• Chiel Kooijman, Steven Laan, Camiel R. Verschoor, and Auke J. Wiggers. NAVIGATE – Nao Visual Gait and Trajectory Estimation. Project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 4 February 2013.
• Nick de Wolf and Steve Nowee. Visual Tracking of Humanoid Robots, Project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 22 January 2013.
• Sander Nugteren. Nao Recognition and coordination. Project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, August 2012.
• Inge Becht, Maarten de Jonge, and Richard Pronk. A Dynamic Kick for the Nao Robot. Project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 26 July 2012.
• Inge Becht, Maarten de Jonge, Anna Keune, Sander Nugteren, Camiel Verschoor, and Duncan ten Velthuis. Dutch Nao Team – Explanatory paper about the educational value of Robotic Programming. White paper (Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1 January 2012).
• Maurits van Bellen, Robert Iepsma, Merel de Groot, and Arjen Swellengrebel. Zone Blocking. Project report (Universiteit van Amsterdam, June 2011).
• Nimrod Raiman and Silvia L. Pintea, Rock, Paper & Scissors with Nao, project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, October 2010
• Maurits van Bellen and Robert Iepsma. Finding a goal at the other side of the field. Project report (Universiteit van Amsterdam, May 2010).
• Bardia Khalesi and Ravi Kumar Gupta. Kicking a street hockey ball. Project report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, December 2009.
• Mark de Greef and Dave A. van Soest, Automatic Color Calibration on a Robosoccer-field, Technical Report, Universiteit van Amsterdam, June 2006.
• J.R. Kok and N. Vlassis. Mutual modeling of teammate behavior. Technical Report IAS-UVA-02-04, Informatics Institute, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 2002.
• Jelle Kok, Remco de Boer, and Nikos Vlassis. Towards an optimal scoring policy for simulated soccer agents. Technical Report IAS-UVA-01-06, Computer Science Institute, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 2001.
• E. Corten, K. Dorer, F. Heintz, K. Kostiadis, J. Kummeneje, H. Myritz, I. Noda, J. Riekki, P. Riley, P. Stone, and T. Yeap. Soccerserver manual. Technical Report 5th edition, May 1999.

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