b-it-bots: Convincing Performance at IROS Conference

The RoboCup team b-it-bots of the university came home from Portugal with a successful second place. It was the first time that a RoboCup@Work competition took place on an IROS conference (Intelligent Robots and Systems), this year in Vilamoura, Portugal.

After the preliminary rounds in the areas of navigation, manipulation and transport the b-it-bots lay only slightly behind the leading LUHbots of the Leibniz University Hannover. Given the short preparation time of less than two months, the tests were very challenging.

In the finals all teams could demonstrate their individual strengths in the areas of navigation, manipulation, perception and planning. The KUKA youBot of the b-it-bot team presented itself as a versatile participant as he took an object from a little drawer and put it in another drawer. Other tasks in the finals were the distinction between standing and lying objects and omnidirectional navigation while avoiding dynamic obstacles.

In the end only ten points separated the first (LUHbots, 1054 points) and the second place (b-it-bots, 1044 points). The team of the Ephesus Sabanci University finished third with 875 points.

In the winter break the b-it-bots RoboCup team prepares for the coming German Open in April 2013, which is traditionally held in Magdeburg.

The RoboCup team of our university currently consists of more than ten students and academic staff members Frederik Hegger, Nico Hochgeschwender and Jan Paulus. In Portugal the students Nirmal Giftsun (India), Sergey Alexandrov (Russia), Matt Roscoe (Canada), Praveen Ramanujam and Mallikarjuna Vayugundla (both India) participated in the competition.

Watch the performance of the KUKA youBots in Portugal on YouTube