UBC Engineering Students Gear up for Robocup Conference with Thunderbots

UBC would be represented by Thunderbots at the 2011 Robocup Conference to be held in Istanbul from the 5^th of July.

The UBC team would be competing against 30 teams from around the world. The soccer-playing robots of UBC belong to a league that plays on green carpeted field of five metre length with a standard golf ball. This team of five robots that play for each team are controlled by a computer. The computers identify the robots on the basis of colour coded dots that show the team they belong to and the player number when they see them on the field through installed cameras. After identification of the location robots and their speed, the computer chalks out a logical game plan.

The senior advisor for the Thunderbots team, Bahador Moosavi, explained that the game is purely driven by artificial intelligence, except for the lone human present at the referee box giving out the signals to the robots. The Thunderbots participating this year are different from their predecessors who have been part of the Robocup since 2006. The Thunderbots are much faster on the field and are equipped with a special multidirectional kicking ability. This kicker system was designed and tested by Tamer Mohamed, who has given the system a triangular cut which helps in deciding the angle the ball goes at. Jonathan Fraser, an electrical engineer, mentioned that the robots were fitted with omniwheels, which are large wheels having smaller wheels along their circumference. Using these wheels the robot is able to move smoothly in all directions without having to turn physically. A noteworthy achievement of the Thunderbots is their triumph at the US Open, defeating teams from Harvard and MIT.