Our work is a case study for Team Sweden, which is a national effort to produce a team of soccer playing robots. We took the present structure of the Reactive Planner, which is the game-planning module of the system, and made two new parallel versions of the Reactive Planner. One where we tried to optimize for CPU and memory usage called the performance-oriented implementation. We also made one implementation where we tried to optimize for maintainability called the maintainability-oriented implementation. To evaluate the implementations we ran a series of CPU and memory usage tests to assess the performance. We also estimated the maintainability of both implementations. The test results where later used to decide which implementation we should recommend to Team Sweden. The results showed that the difference in maintainability did outweigh the difference in performance. The conclusion is that the maintainability-oriented implementation is in this case the preferred / Vårt arbete består av en fallstudie för Team Sweden som är ett nationellt samarbete för att skapa ett lag med fotbollsspelande robotar. Vi använde oss av den nuvarande strukturen av Reactive Planner, vilket är en spelplanerings modul för systemet, och tillverkade två parallella versioner. En som vi försökte optimera prestanda i, kallad prestandaorienterad implementation. Samt en som vi försökte optimera underhållbarheten i, kallad underhållbarhetsorienterad implementation. För att evaluera implementationerna så gjorde vi en serie CPU och minnestester för att evaluera prestanda. Vi estimerade även underhållbarheten för de båda implementationerna. Testresultaten användes sen för att göra en bedömning om vilken av implementationerna som var mest fördelaktig för Team Sweden. Testresultaten visade att skillnaden i underhållbarhet övervägde skillnaden i prestanda. Slutsatsen är i det här fallet att den underhållbarhetsorienterade implementationen versionen är att föredra.

Potential fields is popular technique in autonomous robotics. The Electric Field Approach is such a technique used for high level robot control. The approach was developed by Team Sweden for use in RoboCup 2000, a soccer competition for mobile robots. This thesis describes several improvements that has been made while preparing for RoboCup 2001. The improvements are used to create simple behaviors which achieve a form of implicit cooperation and also more active defence. This thesis also describes improvement ideas that failed to show the de-sired improvement and the reason for this is discussed, thereby deepening the understanding of the Electric Field Approach.

An implementation of the Electric Field Approach applied to the simulated RoboCup is presented, together with a demonstration of a learning system. Results are presented from the optimization of the Electric Field parameters in a limited situation, using the learning system. Learning techniques used in contemporary RoboCup research are also described including a brief presentation of their results.

This work is an evaluation of Linear Quasi-Anticipation in real time domains. The evaluation is performed with experiments in two types of problem domains: pathfinding and Robocup soccer simulation. The experiments gave us valuable insights and made it possible for us to identify key issues concerning linear anticipation in dynamic and real-time domains. These key issues are presented in the report and should be a worthwhile read for anyone interested in hybrid agents, anticipatory systems, and searching in linear time. / Detta arbete är en utvärdering av linjär kvasi anticipering i realtidsdomäner.

Research in mobile robotics, unmanned systems, and autonomous man-portable vehicles has grown rapidly over the last decade. This push has taken the problems of robot cognition and behavioral control out of the lab and into the field. Two good examples of this are the DARPA Urban Challenge autonomous vehicle race and the RoboCup robot soccer competition. In these challenges, a mobile robot must be capable of completing complex, sophisticated tasks in a dynamic, partially observable and unpredictable environment. Such conditions necessitate a behavioral programming approach capable of performing high-level action selection in the presence of multiple goals of dynamically changing importance, and noisy, incomplete perception data. In this thesis, an approach to behavioral programming is presented that provides the designer with an intuitive method for building contextual intelligence while preserving the qualities of emergent behavior present in traditional behavior-based programming. This is done by using a modified hierarchical state machine for behavior arbitration in sequence with a command fusion mechanism for cooperative and competitive control. The presented approach is analyzed with respect to portability across platforms, missions, and functional requirements. Specifically, two landmark case-studies, the DARPA Urban Challenge and the International RoboCup Competition are examined. / Master of Science

In Multi-Agenten-Systemen (MAS) kooperieren und konkurrieren Agenten um ihre jeweiligen Ziele zu erreichen. Für optimierte Agenten-Interaktionen sind Kenntnisse über die aktuellen und zukünftigen Handlungen anderer Agenten (Interaktionsparter, IP) hilfreich. Bei der Ermittlung und Nutzung solcher Kenntnisse kommt dem automatischen Erkennen und Verstehen sowie der Vorhersage von Verhalten der IP auf Basis von Beobachtungen besondere Bedeutung zu. Die Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit der automatischen Bestimmung und Vorhersage von Verhalten der IP durch einen Modellierenden Agenten (MA). Der MA generiert fallbasierte, adaptive Verhaltens-Modelle seiner IP und verwendet diese zur Vorhersage ihrer Verhalten. Als Anwendungsszenario wird mit dem virtuellen Fußballspiel des RoboCup ein komplexes und populäres MAS betrachtet. Der Hauptbeitrag dieser Arbeit besteht in der Ausarbeitung, Realisierung und Evaluierung eines Ansatzes zur automatischen Verhaltens-Modellierung für ein komplexes Multi-Agenten-System. / In multi-agent-systems agents cooperate and compete to reach their personal goals. For optimized agent interactions it is helpful for an agent to have knowledge about the current and future behavior of other agents. Ideally the recognition and prediction of behavior should be done automatically. This work addresses a way of automatically classifying and an attempt at predicting the behavior of a team of agents, based on external observation only. A set of conditions is used to distinguish behaviors and to partition the resulting behavior space. From observed behavior, team specific behavior models are then generated using Case Based Reasoning. These models, which are derived from a number of virtual soccer games (RoboCup), are used to predict the behavior of a team during a new game. The main contribution of this work is the design, realization and evaluation of an automatic behavior modeling approach for complex multi-agent systems.

The Roobots are a robot soccer team which participated in the RoboCup small-sized robot league competition in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002, when they finished in fourth place. This thesis describes the design of the robots in the 2002 team. Design issues for mobile robots in the RoboCup small-sized robot league are reviewed. The design decisions are presented. Finally, some lessons learnt for system design and project management from the three years of competition are presented.

Using physical analogies when solving computational problems is not uncommon. The Electric Field Approach is such an analogy using potential fields for describing the situation in a robotic soccer match and for proposing the next step in optimizing the situation. The approach was developed and implemented during the summer of 2000 and was later used and tested during the fourth Robot Soccer World Cup in Melbourne, Australia. The results of the games prove that the approach is applicable in this narrow but interesting domain, combining artificial intelligence and robotics. The theory of the approach is general and can also be applied on various other domains. This is not the first potential field approach, but the ability of both handling navigation and manipulation of the environment is unique.

No description available.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: RoboCup promotes research in robotics and multi-robot systems (MRS). The RoboCup Small Size League (SSL), in particular, offers an entry level opportunity to take part in this field of study. This thesis presents a starting phase for research in robotics and MRS at Stellenbosch University. It includes the full documentation of the mechanical, electronic and software design of an omni-directional soccer robot for RoboCup SSL. The robot is also meant to operate as a hardware and software development platform for research in MRS. The platform was therefore designed with high-level programming language compatibility, a wide range of connectivity, and modularity in mind. The robot uses a single board computer (SBC) running a Linux operating system to accomplish these objectives. Moreover, a driver class library was written in C++ as a software application interface (API) for future development on the robot platform. The robot was also developed with a particular focus on a distributed control architecture. "Player" was implemented as the middleware, which can be used for communication between multiple robots in a distributed environment. Additionally, three tests were performed to demonstrate the functionality of the prototype: a PI speed control test, a direction accuracy test and a static communication test using the middleware. Recommendations for possible future work are also given. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: RoboCup bevorder navorsing in robotika en multi-robot-stelsels (MRS). Die RoboCup Klein Liga (KL) bied in die besonder die geleentheid om op intreevlak navorsing te doen in hierdie veld. Hierdie tesis verteenwoordig die eerste fase van navorsing in robotika en MRS by Stellenbosch Universiteit. Dit sluit die volledige dokumentasie van die meganiese, elektroniese en sagteware-ontwerp van ’n omnidireksionele sokker-robot vir die KL in. Die robot is ook veronderstel om te dien as ’n hardeware- en sagteware-ontwikkelingsplatform vir navorsing in MRS. Die platform is dus ontwerp met ’n verskeidenheid van uitbreingsmoontlikhede en modulariteit in gedagte asook die moontlikheid om gebruik te maak van ’n hoë-vlak programmeertaal. Om hierdie doelwitte te bereik, maak die robot gebruik van ’n enkel-bord-rekenaar met ’n Linux bedryfstelsel. Verder was ’n sagteware drywer in C++ geskryf om te dien as ’n sagteware-koppelvlak vir toekomstige ontwikkeling op die robot platform. Die robot is ook ontwikkel met die besondere fokus op ’n gedesentraliseerde beheerstels. Player was geïmplementeer as die middelware, wat gebruik kan word vir kommunikasie tussen verskeie robotte in ’n gedesentralliseerde beheerstelsel. Daar is drie toetse uitgevoer om die funksionaliteit van die prototipe te demonstreer, ’n PI spoed beheer toets, ’n rigting akkuraatheidstoets en ’n statiese kommunikasie toets deur van die middelware gebruik te maak. Aanbevelings vir moontlike toekomstige werk word ook verskaf.