This is the web page of the Mexican team Galacticos for RoboCup Asia Pacific 2019.
Below is a description of the data presented in the team description paper for RCAP 2019.
Title / Identification
Abstract
In this document, we describe the football robots with which we started working since 2015 and that until last year we have been able to master to return to RoboCup for the second time. We use Arduino technology because it is low cost, easy to use and has a wide variety of libraries to use sensors and other devices. We also use Pixy Cam technology to do video image processing and detect the location of the ball and goals. So we also mention some of the national and international achievements we have had as a team.
Introduction
The Galacticos team is a Mexican team of young roboticists that was founded in 2014, participating in the Mexican Robotics Tournament and winning first place in the RoboCup Junior Soccer LightWeight category, allowing it to participate in RoboCup 2014, Brazil, where it obtained a Superteam World Champions trophy. Since then the team has participated every year in the Mexican Robotics Tournament with some good results. In 2018 the Galacticos team again won the first national place in the RoboCup Junior Soccer LightWeight category, allowing it to participate in RoboCup 2018, Canada. The Galacticos team has also participated in the National Robotics Festival in Portugal and in the Austrian Robotics Open.
Here´s the website that we made to share our work with the world because of our participation in RoboCup Junior 2018 in Canada.
http://galacticos.robotsa.com/en/teams/soccer/.
Here’s a video of the Galácticos Team, in the video we are in Portugal and it shows a mini review about what we lived and our victory in Robocup Portugal 2018.
We have had a lot of experiences over the years, we have been in National and International competitions since 2014, when we won our national tournament and we had the chance to compete in Robocup, Brazil. In 2018 we were in Robocup Canada, and we obtain good results, in that year we were in Portugal too, and we won the first place, given to our country a very good victory; then this year we went to Robocup Austria when we obtain the 4th place, in general, we’re always trying to improve our abilities with International teams.
Strategy
Robot structure: Our soccer robots are composed of three circular MDF wooden bases of 21.5 cm in diameter, which allow us to organize electronic components. The bases are laser cut and have a slot to bring the ball to the front. We choose MDF wood because it is a lightweight, economical, easy-to-handle material and we can quickly drill or cut for the necessary adjustments to improve the robots. We are currently testing 3D printed bases with PLA and ABS. The bases are joined by screws, spacers and nuts.
Control board: We use an Arduino Mega 2560 board to carry out the data collection of the sensors, their processing and control of the motors.
Light sensors: To detect the white line that delimits the game field we use 16 infrared sensors CNY70 connected to digital inputs of the Arduino Mega board.
Mobility: Each robot has 4 direct current motors, and 4 omnidirectional wheels that allows its movement in any direction, thus achieving that the robot has better control.
H Bridge Shield: The 4 DC motors are controlled by an H Bridge Shield mounted on the Arduino Mega board. To avoid the overheating of the integrated circuits, we place a heat sink and a fan on this component.
Ball sensor: To locate the ball, we use a Pixy Cam video camera that sends the position of the ball to the Arduino board.
Compass sensor: To guide the robot towards the opposite goal, we use a compass sensor LSM303 which communicates via I2C with Arduino.
Touch sensor: To complement the location of the robot to detect the goal at the back, we use two touch sensors with microswitch.
LCD screen: We use an LCD screen connected to Arduino, to observe the values of the various sensors when we need it, mainly for calibration on the field.
Wireless communication: To communicate the two robots to each other and thus achieve a game without interfering with each other we are planing to use XBee S2C modules from DigiKey or bluetooth HC-05 modules.
Solenoid kicker: Use a high-power transistor for switching the solenoid coil, the latter connected with a series resistor to limit the current to 9 A. A parallel damper diode is used to eliminate the inverse peak that occurs when de-energizing the coil.
Power source: For each robot, we are currently using a LiPo rechargeable battery from 11.1 Volts to 3300 mA.
Programming
Our robots were programmed in C/C++ language through the Arduino software. We include libraries for the proper use of the compass sensor, ultrasonic sensors, the H bridge shield, the I2C connection, the LCD screen, and the Arduino EEPROM memory.
At the end of the program we have defined the functions used in the previous parts. These functions include different displacement movements, sensor configurations, automatic calibration of light and compass sensors, among others.
In general, the robots are programmed so that when they are switched on, depending on the EEPROM switch, they perform an automatic calibration of sensors or read the calibration values of the EEPROM memory. After the calibration, each robot is programmed to advance towards the IR ball when it detects it to the front, if it does not detect the ball backs down, if it detects it to one side, it moves in that direction. In the first days of June 2018, we began to plan strategies for one robot to work as a goalkeeper and the other as a forward, as well as wireless communication between them
Track Record
Since 2014 we have participated in national and international Robocup events, here are our results:
- 1st. place in Mexican Robotics Tournament 2014, Mexico.
- 7th. place in RoboCup 2014, and Superteam World Champions, Brazil.
- 2nd. place in Mexican Robotics Tournament 2015, Mexico.
- 4th. place in Mexican Robotics Tournament 2016, Mexico.
- 3rd. place in National Robotics Festival 2016, Portugal.
- 1st. place in Mexican Robotics Tournament 2018, Mexico.
- 1st. place in National Robotics Festival 2018, Portugal.
- 20th. place in RoboCup 2018, Canada.
- 4th. place in RoboCup Junior Austrian Open 2019.
Discussion and Conclusion
During all these years we’ve learned to be a competitive team, to always improve and to respect all our fellow players because, like us, everyone deserves to win, we have also learned to improve our codes and our robots constantly by taking classes on various topics. We have also learned to have a commitment to our team and many times to our country and to learn from mistakes, because they motivate us to improve.
We’ve always followed the idea of improving and helping to improve, therefore we are a team that is always willing to receive comments to improve and we help other teams to grow up
As soon as possible we will be in another competitions and improving our robots by knowing how other teams work, we believe in the good games and we want to be the best team in the world, and we’re working for that.
Acknowledgements
First of all we would like to thank the Federation of Robocup Asia-Pacific for having invited us to its prestigious robotics tournament. We would like to continue sending a thank you to the engineer Julio Cesar Sandria Reynoso for guiding us in this great journey that has been to participate in numerous and important robotics tournaments. We would like to continue thanking the important Robotics Institute of Xalapa, since it has provided us with the necessary resources and confidence to be able to overcome the numerous challenges that have been imposed on us in the tournaments we have attended, and above all for having supported us to surpass ourselves as individuals. Finally we want to conclude that we are proud to be a team and especially a family.
Photos / Images
Our poster include images and graphics representing the team’s robots. Images and graphics are original and available for non-commercial reuse with modification as per the creative commons license (http://creativecommons.org/).
References:
- RoboCupJunior: http://junior.robocup.org/
- RoboCupJunior Soccer: http://junior.robocup.org/soccer/
- RoboCup Junior Soccer Open Rules: http://junior.robocup.org/rcj-soccer-open/
- Sandria-Sánchez Julio Rafael, Sandria-Alfaro Oscar Imanol, Delgadillo-Ochoa Oscar Enrique, Cervantes-García Baltazar, Sandria-Reynoso Julio Cesar (2018). Team Galácticos, México, RoboCup Junior Soccer Lightweight. RoboCup 2018 Canada. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.28666.34245.