The next RoboCup in Sydney is right around the corner, well, almost. So we’ve already met up to talk about the major changes for the upcoming RoboCup. A lot of these changes have already been discussed in the Open TC/OC meeting in Montreal, so you should already be prepared for what is going to come to the SSL.
Discord
We will use Discord as a form of communication in the SSL. If you have anything to share, discuss or ask, feel free to do so. To our knowledge, Discord is still available in all countries except for the UAE, so it’s a more eligible alternative to the current Telegram group. All important information will still be sent via email.
https://discord.gg/t724m8c(The invite link is permanent and also published in the SSL-Wiki: http://wiki.robocup.org/Small_Size_League)
Number of robots and field size
Division A will be played with 11 robots per team on an even larger field by 2020. The RoboCup 2019 will have the same number of robots and same field dimensions as this year. The number of robots or the field size will not be changed in division B for at least the next few years.
Rules
The rules will be completely rewritten in order to make it more clear, straight-forward and understandable. The plan is to publish a first release candidate on October 31st. Since the league is still adapting to the massive amount of changes this year, we haven’t planned to make huge changes for the next RoboCup. That said, we do have some minor changes in mind that need to be discussed in detail still.
Technical Challenges
There will be technical challenges again for the RoboCup in Sydney. We decided to break with tradition and announce the technical challenges already on August 31st to give everyone enough time to implement it.
RefBox
The RefBox will be completely rewritten. It will replace the current front-ends of the AutoRefs while fitting on any common screen, horizontally! Also, the RefBox will communicate with the computers of the teams (in both divisions). This includes:- team name
– choosing the goalie id- the team computers can send a request for exchanging a robot automatically- the RefBox will ask a team whether they want the game to be stopped when the opponent commits a foul (advantage rule)However, this does not change the fact that no human is permitted to touch or control the team computer in any shape or form. For changing the goalie id or exchanging robots, the teams can still ask the referee, as it used to be.