Bridging the Gap - On a Humanoid Robotics Rookie League

The 2050 robot-human soccer game is among the most prominent goals of RoboCup. All RoboCup leagues contribute to this goal, for example the Simulation Leagues with research on strategic game play, the Standard Platform League with stable walking and vision algorithms and the Humanoid League with mechatronics of bipedal robots. However, especially in the Humanoid League, the swift improvement in performance of the robots makes it significantly harder for newcomers to enter into this field of research. With robots increasing in size, with new challenges in mechatronics for bipedal robots and software increasing in complexity, the gap for new teams is widening on the course to the 2050 game. There have been many approaches to easy entry, such as the introduction of a two-league system in the Standard Platform (SPL) and Small Size League (SSL) or an ‘educational challenge’ at regional @home events. While the SPL and SSL approaches require fully developed hard- and software in order to compete, as the @home challenge, we propose an entry-level league with a reduced set of requirements to bridge the gap between the Junior level and advanced Humanoid League. We believe that the Humanoid League can only reach the 2050 goal if new researchers and universities can be attracted on a regular basis. Attracting new researchers requires an easy entry path for new teams, suitable for undergraduate students and universities with a limited budget. The ‘Humanoid Rookie (Sub-) League’ (HRL) will give new researchers and teams the time to gather experience and funds that are necessary to successfully participate in and contribute to the Humanoid League’s development towards the 2050 game. This paper intends to spark discussion about the current state and the roadmap of the Humanoid League within the RoboCup community.