Dear SSL RoboCup Teams,
There are major upcoming changes to RoboCup Soccer that affect the SSL and its members.
What is Happening?
To start, the trustees are taking substantial action to streamline RoboCup Soccer in pursuit of the 2050 goal of playing a match against the World Cup winner. The first and most substantial change is that all soccer leagues will be converging on humanoid (bipedal) robots by 2028. The new leagues will be related to humanoid robotics and simulation only.
The Small Size League will no longer be a major category event after the 2027 RoboCup (the SSL will be at the 2027 event, and not at the 2028 event and after). This is true for many of the other leagues, and there will be substantial changes to the humanoid rules and non-soccer events as well.
The official press release from the RoboCup federation can be found here: https://www.robocup.org/news/181
The SSL community has several transition paths forward.
We understand each team is unique, and will have team specific concerns. We have two major paths forward right now: SSL regional events, possibly with Junior collaboration, and transition to humanoid league.
We have explicitly been told by the trustees we are invited to continue our league under the RoboCup name at regional events after 2027. Our community already has several strong regional events including the German Open, RoboCup Brazil, and the Japan Open. The EC/TC/OC believes we have strong support from the organizers of these regionals, though work will need to be done to transition to and support these events if additional teams attend. The committee is evaluating ways to keep the international community together, like by selecting one regional per year, after 2027, as a “super regional” that would rotate among the current regional events similar to the international event.
The trustees have also begun a transition plan for teams who would like to switch to one of the humanoid leagues and remain on the world event stage. For teams looking to transition quickly, the trustees are working to get discounts and collaborative use of commercial bipedal robot platforms. We will communicate additional details about the humanoid rules and transition assistance as it becomes available. Expect additional communication directly from the governing bodies of global RoboCup.
We may also have an opportunity to convert the SSL to a simplified bridging league in Junior, with the intention of creating a pipeline of students from RoboCup Junior, through the SSL, into humanoid. If this succeeds, we will likely still hold regional events, but then will also have a presence on the world stage in some form, though not in the major event category. This is an evolution of the collaboration games we have been hosting with Junior for the past few years. The committees are working hard to quickly determine what this will look like.
We understand these are big changes and they may come as a surprise to all of you. The committee members only just found out about the new direction during this year’s RoboCup, as the overall desires of the RoboCup trustees became more clear.
What to expect in the coming months.
Obviously, things will be changing. The committees will be hosting a meeting for teams that could not attend the competition, and for teams that would like to meet with us again. This meeting will take place on August 9th. We will announce the time soon. It will cover the same content that was covered in the Open TC/OC meeting in Brazil. We will have time for questions at the end.
After, expect a series of short surveys about transition paths and team concerns. This will help us support you, regardless of what path makes sense for your team. Second, expect technical challenges and other requests from the committee to look differently. The things we ask you to do may shift focus to better support strong regionals.
The committees have always and will always support our community and teams. It has been amazing getting to know each and every one of you. You and your teams make our SSL community special. We have over two years to develop our plans and make sure teams are healthy. We are working hard for you. Feel free to email us directly with specific concerns or questions, even though we may not have answers right now. We are committed to clear and timely communication as new information becomes available.
We look forward to seeing everyone in South Korea for next year’s major event!
Best Regards,
SSL EC/TC/OC
Nicolai Ommer
Tobias Heineken
Leonardo da Silva Costa
Emiel Steerneman
Joao Guilherme Oliveira Carvalho de Melo
William Stuckey
David Brand
Emy Ganzeboom
Lucas Cavalcanti