Emil and Torben can currently be heard on Ostfalia’s “Einfach Forschung” podcast with Prof. Dr. Heinz-Dieter Quack. Together, they try to convey a little bit about our team and the fascination of robotics. You can check for yourself whether they succeeded, wherever you listen to podcasts: https://linktr.ee/einfachforschung The podcast was produced in German.

Campus Day on April 30, 2026

This year, Ostfalia is once again hosting a Campus Day, an open day for visitors. We will also be there again and present our robots in room A066 at the main campus on Salzdahlumer Straße.

You can find more information here: https://www.ostfalia.de/campustag

Our return trip began on 21.07. at 12 o’clock with checking out of the hotel. Unfortunately, there was no time to explore Salvador; instead we used the morning to at least enjoy the beach briefly. Afterwards, a shuttle took us to the airport, and from there we boarded a roughly ten-hour flight to Paris. After a five-hour stopover, which was delayed by another 90 minutes due to technical problems, our connecting flight to Hanover finally took off. Around 6 p.m. we arrived back in Wolfenbüttel – a return trip of around 25 hours in total. Once home, we shared first impressions with the rest of the team and caught up on the very, very badly needed sleep.

In the afternoon, the quarterfinal game against TH-MOS (China) was on the schedule. It was already clear beforehand: this team is among the favorites – not least because of their new platform (Booster robots). TH-MOS had already stood out during the tournament through a very aggressive style of play and repeated rule violations, which had led to considerable hardware failures at several teams. Nevertheless, we decided to put our robots on the field against this team. In the previous games, our robots had already proven comparatively robust, so we assumed that the robots would survive our opponent’s tackles.

As in the game against Boosted HTWK (Germany), we put our focus on a defensive style of play and put all four robots on the field. Already in the first minute, Gambi (robot number 3) was knocked over illegally by two TH-MOS robots – both received a warning and thus a 10-second time penalty. Two warnings lead to a yellow card, and two yellow cards in turn lead to a red card and the removal of the robot. The first half went exactly as planned: goalless. However, our robots had to endure hard hits, but were able to take them well. So at the start of the second half, not only were many Brazilian spectators there again, but also members of other teams who didn’t want to miss the game. As the game went on, our opponents collected a total of 14 warnings, while we got only one. This number meant that three TH-MOS robots, each with a yellow card and a warning, were just short of a red card, and one robot had a yellow card. TH-MOS deliberately took their robots off the field, especially in the second half, to avoid red cards, and even made their substitute robots ready for play just in case. Compared to other games with Booster robots, the second half was low-scoring but unfortunately not goalless, so we lost with a final score of 0-3. Nevertheless, we were very satisfied with the result: the low number of goals conceded and the stability of our robots surprised not only us, but also many other teams. This showed how much we have improved our robots over the last few years. At the end of the game, we had only one defective motor and a few badly bent steel shoulder parts to account for. Two years ago, a game with four robots on the field permanently would have been barely conceivable for us.

Besides our own games, we watched the games of other teams; the quarterfinal between Rhoban (France) and Boosted HTWK (Germany) was particularly interesting. There was also time for group photos, during which we briefly became a crowd attraction. So another exciting day came to an end, which, despite our elimination from the competition, went very positively for us. We made it into the top 8 of the Humanoid Kid Size league at RoboCup and placed 2nd in the Technical Challenges.

At the last two RoboCups in 2023 and 2024, our opponent in the round of 16 was the Hamburg Bit-Bots both times. At this RoboCup, we played the Bold Hearts (England) in the round of 16. Here we were clearly able to put more robots on the field, but alignment to the ball remained problematic. Our robots did move the ball, but not into the goal. As a result, this game went into extra time of two times 5 minutes because of the 0-0 score. We used this time to prepare ourselves and the robots for the subsequent penalty shootout. Here we needed two close attempts, in which our robot left the ball lying on the goal line. The third attempt was successful, though – robot Hans dribbled the ball quickly and directly into the goal. At that point our opposing team was able to field its robot for the penalty shootout, but fell over before ball contact in every attempt and could not score. So this round-of-16 game ended after more than an hour of playing time with a narrow 1-0 win, and for the first time in years we could look forward to a quarterfinal game.

Especially after the games ended that day, we noticed – the last few days had been exhausting. Nevertheless, we kept debugging, tightening screws and talking with other teams. Highlight of the day: near the hall there was a coconut stand selling fresh coconuts to drink. A tip for anyone planning a vacation in Brazil – buy out the fruit counter, it’s worth it. The exertions of the last few days also took their toll on our hardware, though: a battery showed a defect at the balancer connector after a game and was properly disposed of in cooperation with the organizers. Despite setbacks, defects and exhaustion, the day was a complete success – not least thanks to our hard-fought round-of-16 win and the qualification for the quarterfinal, where we face team THMOS tomorrow.

Based on the ranking of the Drop-In Games, we were placed in a group with Boosted HTWK (Germany, 1st place Drop-In Games) and UTRA (Canada, 9th place Drop-In Games). The first group game against UTRA took place right after the lunch break, while the game against Boosted HTWK was scheduled for the next day. The videos of all games can be found on our YouTube channel. For the game against UTRA, we put three of our four robots on the field, while UTRA competed with one robot. Despite many ball contacts, a walker that is significantly improved compared to last year, and new, more effective kick and stand-up animations, we unfortunately did not manage to score a goal. It became clear that our robots still have difficulty aligning precisely to the ball. We therefore used the rest of the day for troubleshooting and for repairing individual hardware components. The evening ended with a technical exchange with team PUMAS (Mexico) – one of the two teams that did not pass the Robot Inspection – and a shared pizza dinner with the NUbots (Australia).

At the subsequent Robot Inspection, our robots passed all requirements without any problems – including dimensions, emergency stop, team markers and stand-up behavior. We even received explicit praise for the implementation of our new emergency stop. Unfortunately, only 11 of 13 teams passed the inspection. Two teams failed this year’s inspection. The exchange within the league worked well, though – we and other teams talked, shared experiences and gave help to make participation next year easier. Once again it became clear that RoboCup is not only a competition, but also a strong community.

Another highlight of the day was the league photo, at which a major Brazilian TV broadcaster was also present – we were briefly seen live in the report. Here is the link to the report Overall, the second setup day was calm, if intense. Despite making full use of the hall’s opening hours from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., there was time for a short lunch break with a visit to the food area – including burgers and fries on site.

We tested our robots right away on the artificial turf, which is very similar to the one we have at home. They walked stably, stood up reliably and mostly kicked reliably – only small adjustments were needed. In the end, our complete setup was standing and the livestream could be started. As a short break in between, we went to the beach right behind the hall.

At the end, we also tested a change to the robot. We modified the cables of the webcams, and with a bit of soldering work we were actually able to fix one of our biggest problems so far: our webcams often had connection problems, which led to reconnects and a brief overload of our computer’s USB controller. This caused disruptions in the motor control, which is also connected via USB, so that our robots often ran very jerkily for several seconds during games. Overall, a very successful setup day.

Preparations began as early as 07.07.2025, so that above all the outbound and return trips could go smoothly through both German and Brazilian customs, and so that the robots and tools would survive the flight undamaged. New dents on all the boxes confirm in hindsight: careful packing was absolutely necessary. On 11.07.2025 we went to customs in Broitzem – many thanks to the customs officers for their help.

The day started early: at 2 a.m. we met in Wolfenbüttel and set off for Hanover. There, our flight left at 6 a.m. In Paris we had a short 3-hour layover before flying directly on to Salvador. At immigration at the airport, our robots immediately became a topic of conversation – customs showed great interest. After that, a shuttle took us to the hotel within 20 minutes. Once at the hotel, we checked in and had made it through the day of arrival.

You can find us in the main building (Salzdahlumer Straße) in room A067 😊.

For us, the preparation began on the Saturday of the previous week, when we met again for a workshop in our lab. This time, after a short breakfast and a basic cleaning of the lab, we got down to integrating and finally testing our new developments.

GermanOpen as a Testing Ground

After every World Championship in July, we plan the development for the coming months. Based on the experience gained there, we decide how the robots need to be extended and how the software needs to be adapted. We then spend the winter months working on this development. And during this time, all five robots from our team are rarely ready for use at the same time. On top of that, we recruit more members in the winter semester than in the summer semester, and now have a few months to teach the newcomers as much as possible.

Historically, the GermanOpen is the first competition of every calendar year for us. That also makes it the date by which all robots have to work again. However, because the GermanOpen is always a rather relaxed event, we bring a lot of prototype modifications to the competitions. So, to speak, we test the effect and benefit of our modifications from the past months at the GermanOpen, directly in competition.

At the same time, we try to bring as many newcomers as possible to the GermanOpen so that they can gain some competition experience. Based on their behavior and performance in the competition, we also decide whether the respective new member may come along to the World Championship in July. So on the one hand, it is an extremely intensive workshop for our newcomers, and on the other hand, a kind of exam.

Still, the physical well-being has to be taken care of too!