German Open 2024 - The Final
Today marked the high point of the RoboCup German Open in Kassel for our team – the final of the Humanoid League Kid Size was on the program. But before the game began, we were confronted with a series of technical problems that put us to a tough test.
Already during the preparations it turned out that two of our robots had failed. Detlef, one of our most reliable players, was put out of action by an unfortunate short circuit in the right shoulder motor during a test. The robot’s power board burned through, destroying not only the motor but also the Jetson.
As a replacement, shortly before the game the old Jetson from Sara was installed. However, it was not up to the same state as the other robots and showed considerable connection problems. Unfortunately, this misbehavior only became clear to us at halftime and could never be fully fixed.
Despite these setbacks, our team showed impressive readiness and determination to make the best of the situation. Our hardware team worked tirelessly to get Gambi ready for action again in time for the final. That’s why we had at least two robots with the tried-and-tested NUC-Jetson combination available for the game.
Sara, a representative of the new generation of robots in our team, was equipped with a new computer architecture based on Nvidia Orins. But she, too, was not spared the technical problems. Before the game, her board was destroyed by a short circuit triggered by a jammed nut, which ultimately knocked her out of the tournament.
That left only Jutta as the representative of the new architecture. But what a game Jutta delivered! The intensive months of development and the countless hours of testing paid off when she showed an outstanding performance in the final. Especially in the second half she impressed with superb play: she scored our first goal in years, actively defended against the attacks of the Bit-Bots robots and fought gripping duels.
The tension was palpable and the chances of another goal were good when Jutta was brought down by a pushing violation from the Bit-Bots robots. This led to a restart of the Orin and ended the ongoing offensive move. The referee, provided by the Bit-Bots, then handed out no card but only a time penalty for the Hamburg robot. In the end, the Bit-Bots, who were the better team all week, deservedly won the final. Despite these obstacles and a narrow defeat against the superior Bit-Bots robots, the game was an important milestone for our team.
For us, despite the disappointments, it was a significant victory and emotions ran high. Our new platform proved itself, and the experience from this game will help us come back even stronger in the future. The final game represented a milestone in our robot development. We are on the right track and will learn from our mistakes so that we can perform even better at the next tournament. In Eindhoven we will meet the Bit-Bots again, this time however with five second-generation robots instead of one. Jutta will pass on her knowledge.
You can find our games on our YouTube channel, by the way: WF Wolves RoboCup Team