Galacticos SECOND PLACE in category
RoboCupJunior Soccer Lightweight Primary of
Torneo Mexicano de Robotica 2015

MSc. Julio César Sandria Reynoso

Hello! In April 2015, with the help of mothers and fathers, I had the opportunity to take an enthusiastic group of roboticist boys to the 2015 Mexican Robotics Tournament (TMR 2015).

The group consisted of two Galacticos teams and eight teams from General 5 School in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.

In the following picture there are the guys from Galacticos, Galacticos RS and some guys from the General 5 School.

The TMR 2015 was held from April 23 to 25, at the Center for Municipal and Metropolitan Studies of the Acatlán School of Higher Studies (FES Acatlán) of the UNAM, in the State of Mexico.

For all the boys of the General 5 school was his first experience in a robotics tournament. Some teams were regular and others not so regular. The main idea was to take them to know what other kids of their age do in the area of robotics, in our country.

Initially, I served as a mentor to the teams of the General 5 School and the Galactic teams of RobotSA. I am grateful for the professional help of Arnold Landa, Ana Sánchez and Oscar Sandria, who served as “associated mentors”.

Galacticos RS team

The Galacticos RS team of RobotSA, was formed by Mario, Carolina, Samuel and Miguel. This team participated in the category RoboCupJunior Rescue Line Secondary, although not with good results. In the next photo are the guys from Galacticos RS, in the Galacticos Home.

This is the first time that the Galacticos RS team participates as a team and had less than two months to work on their robot. In the next photo I’m with two guys from Galacticos RS.

I hope they have been motivated to continue participating and return to the next TMR with more enthusiasm and desire to work in robotics.

In the following photo, two members of the Galacticos RS team in one of the tests of RoboCup Junior Rescue Line Secondary in the TMR 2015.

Galacticos team

The RobotSA Galacticos team, again participated in the category RoboCupJunior Soccer Light Weight Primary. In the TMR 2014, this team won the FIRST PLACE, which allowed us to represent Mexico in the RoboCup 2014 in Brazil.

In the next photo, two Galacticos boys in a soccer match.

This year, the Galacticos team was made up of five members. Three of them from the initial team of 2014: Rafael, Gersom and Imanol.

This year joined the team Oscar and Sahid, who have participated enthusiastically in the preparation of the new Galacticos robots.

In the next photo, there are two Galacticos guys with the first place winner of the RoboCupJunior Soccer L. Primary category, of the TMR 2015. Congratulations to the chaBots team! We hope you do well at RoboCup 2015 in China.

In the following photo, the Galacticos guys go through their SECOND PLACE trophy.

In this photo, the Galactic boys posing with their SECOND PLACE trophy (the middle boy has it) and gifts from the sponsors of the event.

Our two Galacticos robots with the SECOND PLACE trophy.

One of our new Galacticos robots with the SECOND PLACE trophy of the TMR 2015.

I thank the participating children, mothers and fathers who unconditionally support the boys.

Finally, a strong thanks to our sponsors, who thanks to them we were able to acquire new robotics material and make the trip from Xalapa to the State of Mexico to participate in the 2015 Mexican Robotics Tournament.

1. RobotSA (www.robotsa.com)
2. Anonymous
3. Alianza Generacional
4. Casas Carpín
5. Thomas Jefferson School
6. Anonymous

Sincerelly,

MSc. Julio Cesar Sandria Reynoso
Mentor of team Galacticos
Second Place in Torneo Mexicano de Robótica 2015
First Place in Torneo Mexicano de Robótica 2014
Superteam World Champions in RoboCup 2014, Brazil

Write us an email to: galacticos@robotsa.com.

Los Galacticos FIRST PLACE in
RoboCupJunior Soccer Lightweight Primary
of the Torneo Mexicano de Robotica 2014

M.Sc. Julio César Sandria Reynoso

In April 2014 I participated with Los Galacticos team that won the FIRST PLACE in the RoboCupJunior Soccer Lightweight Primary category of the Mexican Robotics Tournament (Torneo Mexicano de Robotica 2014). The team represented RobotSA (a technology microenterprise) and consisted of two 12 years old children, a 13 years old boy and Julio Sandria (Julio Cesar Sandria Reynoso) as the Mentor.

The robots played soccer in a small field, and they were armed and programmed by the children.

At the end of this article there is the link to the video edited by two of the children, with a summary of the last three games that our team won.

Next, the final table of the category in which we participate, published by the Mexican Federation of Robotics, on its website http://www.femexrobotica.org/tmr2014/resultados.html…

Previously I had already participated with teams of university students in other robotics tournaments:

• 4to. Torneo Mexicano de Robots Limpiadores (2007), winning two first places.
• 3er. Torneo Mexicano de Robots Limpiadores (2006), winning two appointments to the most ingenious prototype.
• 2do. Torneo Mexicano de Robots Limpiadores (2005), winning second place.
• 1er. Torneo Mexicano de Robots Limpiadores (2004), winning second and third place.

The idea of participating again in robotic tournaments was latent for several years. In 2003 I started with Lego Mindstorms RIS 2.0 robotics packages and since 2007 I have acquired some Lego Mindstorms NXT packages, Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 and Lego Mindstorms EV3.

In December 2011 I bought two infrared balls, omnidirectional wheels, compass sensors and infrared sensors to start making tests with soccer robots.

In February 2014, using the material prepared for my course Programación de robots futbolistas con Lego Mindstorms NXT, I started the formal preparation of Los Galacticos team and soon after the Sandria team, to participate in the Mexican Robotics Tournament 2014 that took place in Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche (Mexico), from April 10 to 12, 2014.

The team Los Galacticos participated in the category RoboCupJunior Soccer Lightweight Primary, for children up to 14 years old. In this category, robots play soccer in teams of two against two.

RoboCup is a global initiative to promote work and research in robotics and artificial intelligence. Its website is www.robocup.org.

RoboCupJunior is an educational initiative that promotes local, national and international events for children and young people up to 19 years old. Its website is rcj.robocup.org.

To form a competitive team, in addition to working on the design and programming of the robots, we built a field with the regulatory measures to test them.

Boys returned from school and spent a few hours “playing” with the soccer robots.

We used Lego Mindstorms NXT robots, I taught them and explained the model that I thought was the right one to put together and they put it together. I also explained the programming of the Lego Mindstorms NXT Software for these particular robots, which they understood quite well. In fact, it was very useful for two of them to have participated in the summer courses I taught in 2012 and 2013.

The children even had up to four soccer robots to do all the necessary tests before the competition.

The second team, Sandria, participated with a rescue robot, in the category RoboCupJunior Rescue A Secondary, for young people up to 19 years old. They made a prototype with a Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 and another with a Lego Mindstorms EV3. We decided on the first, because they still did not dominate the second.

In the rescue test we needed to work more, and the team won the sixth place of 21 participating teams. Still, I’m sure that with the last effort that the kids did, they learned even more about programming.

During the event, at the Universidad Autónoma del Carmen, when we arrived at the competition area we were always greeted by the mascot (on poster) that can be seen in the following photo. I also took a picture of my badge as a Mentor of the Los Galacticos team.

In the following images, the first photo shows the guys sitting at their desk, making the last adjustments before their participation. In the second picture you can see the playing fields for RoboCupJunior Soccer games and more participants from other categories.

In the following photos: Me, during a break, and the boys, at the entrance of the Sports Unit of Campus II of the Autonomous University of Carmen.

In the following photo the team Los Galacticos before the first game. We tied the first one, we lost the second and we won the third one, with what we could go to the next round.

We won in the quarterfinals and semifinals. The following photo was taken before starting the final match. The children seemed nervous.

WE WON THE FINAL MATCH! Photo of the memory, with the team that was in second place.

Before the delivery of trophies. And Los Galacticos receiving the trophy of first place.

In the following photo, the champions of RoboCupJunior Soccer Lightweight Primary with their trophy. CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!

Back at home, the two robots from Los Galacticos with the 1st place trophy.

The following video shows a summary of the quarterfinal, semifinal and FINAL matches of Los Galacticos team, champion of the RoboCupJunior Soccer Lightweight Primary category in the 2014 Mexican Robotics Tournament.

The video was edited by two of the boys from the equipment. The screams of goal and win are from the Mentor.