A year ago, we were approached with a unique challenge: to create robotic football players capable of playing alongside humans.
These robots needed to accurately identify the ball's location, recognize the positions of other players, seize control of the ball, and score goals against the opposing team.
The task seemed nearly impossible, especially considering the challenge of building everything from scratch and delivering a fully functional solution within just two months.
In the Middle East, this is a reasonable timeframe for project implementation, but not for designing and building unique robots entirely from scratch.
For our team, the tougher the challenge, the more exciting it becomes.
We immediately began designing the robots while our engineers simultaneously tackled the mechanical aspects. This included developing rapid movement mechanisms, a gripping system, a vision system, and an energy management solution to determine the best battery options. In parallel, we also initiated the creation of a comprehensive game strategy.
Once we had set up the space for robot assembly and tracking, we moved on to testing.
After agreeing on the design, we began to manufacture the case. The first body turned out to be too big and we wanted to make it smaller so that it wouldn’t look like a "killer robot"))
With the robot's body modifications complete, we moved on to installing its internal components. Simultaneously, we set up a tracking system, using cameras to monitor the ball, robots, and players. Ensuring safety during gameplay was a top priority, so we developed a program to slow the robot down if a person was detected nearby, preventing any potential collisions.
Having manufactured all the robots and the gripping system, we began to work out all possible scenarios on the site. For additional protection from impact, we have provided a soft covering for the sharp corners of the robot and also an arc protecting it from the gripper motor.
After all the tests, we added a goal counting system, as well as an analysis of the best players for the season. Robot games were brought to automaticity, where the robots themselves determined the style of play depending on the players. Of course, our team monitored each robot and was ready to stop or adjust the game of each of our metal players
Even Jason Derulo decided to play with our team; the artist flew to his concert and at the same time decided to take a walk around GITEX. The artist could not pass by our installation and of course played
So what can we say in conclusion? The project turned out to be interesting and complex, but as we often say, nothing is impossible! The project was delivered, the client is happy and so is our team. We will wait for the continuation of the history of our robots’ participation in new events.
Comments