A match is played by two teams, with each team consisting of not more than 11 robots in division A and not more than 6 robots in division B, one of which may be the keeper. Each robot must be clearly numbered according to its vision pattern so that the referee can identify it during the match. The id of the keeper must be chosen before the match starts (see [Choosing Keeper Id]).
An exception is made during the Division A group phase, where the number of robots is limited to 8 if at least one of the two teams prefers it.
The referee may force a team to remove a robot from the field if it does not satisfy the rules. Members of the technical committee may also check the hardware and software constraints of robots at any point of the tournament.
If a team is not able to provide at least one robot that satisfies the rules, the team is forced to forfeit.
A robot must not pose danger to itself, another robot, or humans. It must not damage or modify the ball or the field.
The referee has to force a team to remove a robot from the field if he considers it a potential safety threat.
A robot must fit inside a 0.18 meters wide and 0.15 meters high cylinder at any point in time. Additionally, the top of the robot must adhere to the standard pattern size and surface constraints.
Dribbling devices that actively exert spin on the ball, which keep the ball in contact with the robot are permitted under certain conditions:
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The dribbling device must not elevate the ball from the ground
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Another robot must be able to remove the ball from a robot with the ball.
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A robot must not take full control of the ball by removing all of its degrees of freedom.
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80% of the area of the ball when viewed from above has to be outside the convex hull around the robot. This limitation applies as well to all kicking devices, even if such infringement is momentary.
All participating teams must adhere to the given operating requirements of the shared vision system. In particular, teams are required to use a certain set of standardized colors and patterns on top of their robots.
To ensure compatibility with the standardized patterns for the shared vision system, all teams must ensure that all robots have a flat surface with sufficient space available on the top side. The color of the robot top must be black or dark grey and have a matte (non-shiny) finish to reduce glare. The standard vision pattern is guaranteed to fit within a circle with a radius of 0.085 meters that is linearly cut off on the front side of the robot to a distance of 0.055 meters from the centre, as shown in figure 5. Teams must ensure that their robot tops fully enclose this area.
Every robot must have one of the 16 patterns shown in figure 6. No two robots are allowed to use the same pattern.
The center dot color determines the team and is either blue or yellow (see [Choosing Team Colors]). The other four dot colors encode the id of the robot. To ensure that every team uses the same colors, the organizing committee provides enough colored paper at the competition.
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Teams are encouraged to prefer color assignments with ids 0 to 7 because they have been experimentally found more stable, as there is no risk that the back two dots “color-bleed” into each other. |
Participants using wireless communications must notify the organizing committee of the method of wireless communication, power, and frequency. The organizing committee must be notified of any change after registration as soon as possible. In order to avoid interference, a team must be able to select from two carrier frequencies before the match. The type of wireless communication has to follow legal regulations of the country where the competition is held. Compliance with local laws is the responsibility of the competing teams, not the RoboCup Federation.
The type of wireless communication may also be restricted by the local organizing committee. The local organizing committee will announce any restrictions to the community as early as possible.
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Bluetooth is not allowed since it cannot be fixed to frequency channels. |
The robotic equipment has to be fully autonomous. Human operators are not permitted to enter any information to the system during a match, except in breaks or during a timeout. Additionally, robots may not be manually moved during any phase of the match, except for moving robots out of the field, or into the field as described in Robot Substitution. Disregarding this rule is considered unsporting behavior.