TAKING THE INITIATIVE: Ali al-Harib, Chairman Al-Harib Modern Techologies, left; Ali Dafer al-Hababi, Vice Chairman Qatar Scientific Club, centre; and Rashed Ali Mohammad al-Ibrahim, Deputy Secretary General Qatar Scientific Club.
By Umer Nangiana
Yes, robots can play football, too. They are soon arriving here to provide aspiring football players from Qatar’s schools an opportunity to form their own teams, challenge others and win a national championship.
Qatar Scientific Club (QSC), with the assistance of Al-Harib Modern Technologies and its Korean partners, has announced a two-day championship of Robot Football on March 5 and 6 this year.
The competition is open to all primary and secondary level male school students. The robots, specially designed for football and imported from Korea, will be available for purchase for the participating teams.
Every school can pitch one team comprising three players, an extra and a coach. The winning team and the runner-up will win a five-day trip to Korea besides cash prizes.
“The future belongs to robots so we have to be prepared for it. This championship is a step in that direction,” Rashed Ali Mohammad al-Ibrahim, the Deputy Secretary General of QSC, told Community.
In a post-announcement interview, Rashed said it will be the first of its kind competition here using robots in football. It is especially targeted at youth from higher and secondary school.
The QSC will provide training to the participating teams on how to use and control these robots. “The teams will buy robots to own them. We will provide training in the schools,” Rashed said.
In order to get a good handle on how the robots function, he advised that the teams practice every day. Every individual team would be free to use its own game strategy and plan to control them, he added.
This time, the robots will come pre-programmed for the football competition. However, if anyone is interested in learning the programming of the robots, the QSC will provide courses and workshops on its premises in the near future.
“We have set up a centre here for training people in robotics. Anyone interested can join us,” said Rashed. There will be no bar on the number of entries and the QSC is prepared to take as many schools that participate in the competition.
The total prize money for the competition is QR60,000 — with the winner getting QR6,000; the runner-up QR4,500; and the second runner-up QR3,500 with a RoboKit. To encourage learning robotics among the local youth, the winners and the first runner-up would be sent to Korea to visit the robot manufacturing industry.
Speaking about the competition, Ali Al-Harib, Chairman Al-Harib Modern Technologies, told Community that the idea was to prepare for the RoboCup 2050 (see box).
In line with the World Vision for the robot, it is important for all the states to implement and conduct certain activities of robotic sports and competitions to be ready for the event, said Al-Harib.
“We are trying to have the same here by organising our own tournament locally in order to get our kids trained for the global vision,” said Al-Harib, the chief sponsor of the tournament. He also put on display some robot models that performed different computer-simulated stunts.
To keep pace with technological development and boost the education of students and enhance their skills, QSC was ready to facilitate such events with the help of local companies, including Al Harib Modern Technologies and Korean partners RoboBuilder and NexNine.
Al-Harib said their partners in Korea would supply the robots.
“Not just supplying robots, we were looking for a supplier company that can also do the knowledge transfer,” Al-Harib hastened to add. It was one reason why the Korean companies were selected, he added. “They would give us all the knowledge that is required here in order to programme and do whatever we want to do in future for robotics, he said.
Al-Harib, besides sponsoring the championship, would give cash prizes and special discounts to the teams that want to buy the robots.
Al-Harib Modern Technologies has been in the field since 1995 but this is its first endeavour in robotics.
“We believe that there is a gap. Nobody really looked at robotics so we decided to bring it here for our children,” said Al-Harib. “It is very advanced…‘humanised’ robots that can perform human jobs,” he said.
Giving details about the competition, he said that among the listed teams, play-off matches will be conducted to select the best teams which will proceed to the next round. Of these, eight teams will contest the quarter-finals. Four winners of each quarter-final will go through to the semi-finals and the winning two will then contest the final.
QSC will appoint a referee for the matches. The management of the club, in association with government agencies and partnered companies, will reward and honour the winning team.
All the teams will use RoboBuilder RQ Robot kit only. The total match duration will be six minutes with an interval in between. In case of a tie, extra time will be provided. All the games will be held in the specially made stadium inside QSC. The teams will be selected randomly. The championship will be held only if there are at least 10 contestants.
What is RoboCup and how do robots play?
“Robot Soccer World Cup” — the full name of the competition — is contracted to be called the “RoboCup”. An international robotics competition established in 1997, it aims to promote robotics by offering a publicly appealing, but formidable challenge.
According to the organisers, the official goal of the project is to achieve, “By the middle of the 21st century (2050), a team of fully autonomous humanoid robot soccer players who should win a soccer game, complying with the official rules of FIFA, against the winner of the most recent World Cup.”
Imagine watching an actual robot dribbling, dodging and matching the speed of the human players on the football field! In another 35 years, they aim to have a team of robots that would go on and try to beat the-then world champions.
The pace at which robotics technology is developing presently, the eventual goal does not seem too far from being met. Currently, the tournament has progressed into stages that incorporate all the developments taking place in the field of robotics over the past few years. The contest has four major competition domains, each with a number of leagues and sub-leagues.
Each team is fully autonomous in all RoboCup leagues. Once the game starts, the only input from any human is from the referee.
The robotics expert do not just intend to make a match between humans and robots possible, they aim at putting up such a strong team of ‘machines’ that would defeat humans at their own game!
Presently, RoboCup Soccer World Championship involves robot players playing against each other in different categories. However, the scientists are aiming to combine all the qualities of a football player into the robot in order to make it exhibit all human instincts such as autonomy and cooperation while playing as a team out on the soccer field.
According to RoboCup Soccer rules, once a game starts, no human interference is permitted. Only substitutions where humans replace a damaged robot are allowed. The referee can also eject a robot for fouling an opponent.
Against each other, the robots use a variety of kicks and dribbles to pass and shoot the ball and they communicate through wireless Internet connections.
