A Look Back at the Third Day of the RoboCup German Open 2024 in Kassel
The third day of the RoboCup German Open in Kassel dawned, and with it a mix of challenges and hopes. For us, the day began with a demo game at 9:30 a.m. for the sponsors and invited guests. This game was of particular importance to us, since it offered the chance to present our abilities to an important audience.
We aimed to get as much moving material onto the field as possible, and at times we managed to play with up to four robots at once. Unfortunately, errors in localization led to a sobering final score of 0-2 for our opponents. But despite this early defeat, we didn’t let ourselves be discouraged. Instead, we pushed forward continuous improvements in game behavior, in the walkers and in localization.
In the early evening our last game of the day was on, and we could show considerable progress. A clear improvement was visible, which was even acknowledged by our opponents. But by the end of the day, only two of five robots were in a playable condition. Gambi’s NUC gave up on the previous game day, and we are still looking for the cause. Hans Jetson is no longer functional, so for the time being he will only watch from the edge of the field. Our new bumpers proved insufficient in the games, and due to a lack of spare parts we had to take Sara out of play. Only Jutta and Detlef are still playable, both absolute top performers.
The day ended with debugging and a well-deserved pizza. But tomorrow is already the last day of our competition, while the RoboCup German Open continues until Sunday. Since we made it to the final, the big final game awaits us there. Maybe we’ll bring a trophy home after all? The tension is rising, and we are ready for the challenges the last day brings. Until then: full concentration and readiness for action for the big final!
