Open Source Software and Hardware

Software framework

The software framework is a software written in Java that runs on any PC. It contains the central AI and is responsible for receiving camera data, filtering the data and communicating with the robots by calculating decision in the AI.

Electronics

The electronics package includes schemas and layout of all electronics.
They are designed with Autodesk EAGLE.

Mechanics

CAD files and PDF drawings of all parts.
2011 files use CATIA.
2013 and 2014 files use Autodesk Inventor 2013.
2016, 2017, and 2018 files use Autodesk Inventor 2016.
2019 and 2020 files use Autodesk Inventor 2019.

Firmware

The code running on the microcontrollers of our robot. Projects are using Eclipse as IDE and the GNU GCC compiler.
Each archive contains a PDF file with setup instructions.

TIGERs grSim Simulator

Adapted version of the grSim simulator to work with our software. It includes automated install scripts for Linux, Visual Studio support for Windows and better ball simulation.

Autonomous Referee

Autonomous referee software for detecting rule violations (2014) and managing a full game (2016)

SSL Augmented Reality App

An Augmented Reality App that visualizes AI decisions in a live video or video file send through network in a protobuf packet.

Documentation and other files

All release files can be browsed through the buttons below.

(Seminar) Papers

This section lists papers written by Tigers team members during their studies or with a strong relation to the RoboCup domain.

Published Title Author
Nov 01, 2022 RoboCup 2022 SSL Champion TIGERs Mannheim - Ball-Centric Dynamic Pass-and-Score Patterns Geiger, M. & Ommer, N. & Ryll, A. Abstract Paper

In 2022, TIGERs Mannheim won the RoboCup Small Size League competition with individual success in the division A tournament, the blackout technical challenge and the dribbling technical challenge. The paper starts with an  outline of the robot’s dribbling hardware and ball catching computations, followed by a high level summary of the AI used in the tournament. Given 62 scored goals and no conceded goals at RoboCup 2022, the focus is on describing  the used attack and support behaviors and how they are selected. The paper concludes with a statistic of the tournament backing the efficiency of our employed strategies.

Nov 06, 2021 RoboCup 2021 SSL Champion TIGERs Mannheim - A Decade of Open-Source Robot Evolution Ryll, A. & Ommer, N. & Geiger, M. Abstract Paper

In 2021, TIGERs Mannheim won the RoboCup Small Size League competition with individual success in the virtual tournament, the hardware challenges, and the technical challenge. This paper focuses on our open-source robot hardware which has evolved over the past decade to a highly integrated system. Previous robot generations are outlined and the mechanical and electrical design of generations v2019 and v2020 is explained in-depth.

May 05, 2021 Creating a Development and Deployment Infrastructure for the TIGERs Mannheim On-Bot Vision Software Weinmann, F. Abstract Paper

The new RoboCup Small Size League team TIGERs Mannheim onboard camera software RobotPi requires tools and infrastructure for development and deployment. Therefore in this work a CMake configuration to compile RobotPi on multiple platforms in development and production configuration was created. A custom Raspbian image for deployment of necessary dependencies and configurations to the robots was developed with pi-gen. These steps were integrated into GitLab pipelines for continouus integration. For deployment of RobotPi to multiple robots a usb based automatic debian package installation was implemented. To support development without access to a robot and play field an image simulation tool was created with Blender and a method to load them into RobotPi provided.

Dec 04, 2020 Robust On-Board Image Recognition for Autonomous Robot-Ball Interaction Litzelmann, R. & Ratzel, M. Abstract Paper

In the Small Size League (SSL) soccer competition of the Robot World Cup (RoboCup), the TIGERs Mannheim team uses an image recognition system that recognises the ball directly with cameras on the robots. This reduces the reliance on the league-internal vision system. Based on a previous work, this study report aims at centralising the configuration system and enhancing the detected ball position using undistortion and backprojection. The centralisation avoids deviating configuration states in the multi-robot environment. The former configuration system is modifiedand extended to the robots’ Firmware by introducing a new concept. An undistortion model with few parameters is successfully generated and trained. It combines high performance and accuracy. Additionally, the detected ball position is projected back into the three-dimensional space, which contributes to a more effective control of the robot.The results of this study report reflect an improvement in the overall robustness of the image recognition, although the new system has yet to prove itself in a competitive tournament environment like RoboCup

Dec 04, 2020 Ball State Estimation Based on a Near-Field Low-Resolution Infrared Sensor Array Messerschmidt, Marius Abstract Paper

For a team in the RoboCup’s Small Size League (SSL) it is crucial to accuratelyknow the ball position at any point in time. The regular method of obtaining this information is to receive the location from the leagues vision system. However, besides the limited accuracy of the system, there are situations where it can not detect the ball fully. Therefore, a system to detect the ball is added to the robot in this report. I uses a combination of infrared emitters and receivers to detect the signal that is reflected by the ball. Different strategies for the ball position estimation are shown in this report and a combination of a polynomial fit and a tiny neural network is used to predict the position of the ball up to a few millimeters of accuracy. If however, there are other obstacles in front of the robot, such as an opponent robot,the system looses a lot of its accuracy but is still able to detect the presence of the ball and to estimate its position with an error of about 2 centimeters in each direction.

Jun 21, 2019 On-Board Computer Vision for Autonomous Ball Interception Seel, F. & Jut, S. Abstract Paper

Implementing the Vision-Blackout Technical Challenge in the Robocup Small Size League.

Jun 29, 2018 Rework of the Coordination of Offensive Actions in the RoboCup Small Size League Leipscher, U. Abstract Paper

In the Small Size League (SSL) soccer competition of the Robot World Cup (RoboCup), fast passes between robots are the main tool to overcome the defence of the opponent team and allow for successful goal kicks. Most teams have developed tactics to intercept passes and gain ball control. Therefore, reliable analysis of the current situation and the decision if a pass is feasible are necessary. In this work, different pass rating functions are introduced and tested. Focusing on simplicity and reliability, the pass rater use distances of the opponent robots to the pass line as basis for their ratings. An analysis of simulated soccer games using the new pass raters shows similarly high success rates for passes. Finally, the implemented software allows simple exchange and configuration to adjust to different opponents.

Aug 09, 2017 Real-Time Online Adaptive Feedforward Velocity Control for Unmanned Ground Vehicles Ommer, Nicolai Abstract Paper

Online adaptation of motion models enables autonomous robots to move more accurate in case of unknown disturbances. This paper pro-
poses a new adaptive compensation feedforward controller capable of online learning a compensation motion model without any prior nowledge to counteract non-modeled disturbance such as slippage or hardware mal-functions. The controller is able to prevent motion errors a priori and is well suited for real hardware due to high adaptation rate. It can be used in conjunction with any motion model as only motion errors are compensated. A simple interface enables quick deployment of other robot systems as demonstrated in Small Size and rescue Robot RoboCup leagues.

Jul 16, 2016 Development of an Autonomous Referee Software for the Small Size League Magel, Lukas Abstract Paper

TBA

Jun 03, 2015 Design and Implementation of Dynamic Offensive Strategies in RoboCup Small Size League Geiger, Mark Abstract Paper

The work described in this report includes the implementation of several new
modules and analysis methods within Sumatra that form a nearly completely
redesigned o offensivestrategy. One key task described in this report is the handling
of multiple robots in the offensive strategy to support and improve passing and
redirecting to build a dynamic and intelligent offensiveplaying behavior.
The newly created offensive design enables more exible and more scoring dangerous
o ensive plays. Furthermore the newly created code is more reliable and easier to
adapt.