Hi RoboCup Forum,
the simplest way to use both your robots in the soccer lightweight or open league is to just drive both towards the ball or give them fixed roles. With this, your two robots interfere with each other. So, a dynamic change of roles would be the best solution.
To accomplish this, you need some kind of communication, as currently allowed only the Bluetooth protocol. With this, you already have a vast variety of possibilities. But Bluetooth is not as fast as other protocols and brings a lot of latency with it.
We would propose the legitimation of the Wi-Fi protocol (802.11g, 802.11, 802.11ax). Besides the lower latency and so the robots can adapt quickly to new situations. Also with the higher transfer rate, the robots could, if position measurement devices such as lidars are used send their whole position and position of the enemy to each other and calculate the perfect path to drive.
Quick Summary:
- Less latency → robots adapt quickly and improve the overall gameplay.
- Higher bandwidth → the robots can send more information to the other robot and avoid each other perfectly.
- Implementation of the Wi-Fi protocol isn´t complicated and Arduino Wi-Fi shields aren´t more expensive than Bluetooth modules.
- Teams could implement debugging tools, as seen in the SSL League.
- Interference with other Wi-Fi networks, especially the ones used by the major teams shouldn´t be a problem. Although the host of an own Wi-Fi network was forbidden at the World Open in Bordeaux, there were a lot of hotspots and more and the major teams had no difficulty at all.
Allowing Wi-Fi would help a lot of teams who have problems with Bluetooth and/or would love to send more data quicker, livestream video feed or see some debugging while testing.
We hope we could arouse some interest and consider a rule change for the next year.
Sincerely
Robotics Club of the Lessing Gymnasium Neu-Ulm [Germany]
robotics@tghd.email
Website