Report Activity No.2

As the mentor of Team KameRider Airost, participating in the RoboCup 2023 Bordeaux Simulation Education Challenge has been an immensely gratifying experience. Serving as both a mentor for the team and a volunteer for the broader RoboCup event, I find myself reflecting on the incredible journey, the challenges we encountered, and the invaluable lessons learned during this unique competition.

First and foremost, the achievement of winning the Best Performance Award stands as a testament to the dedication, collaboration, and hard work exhibited by every member of our team. Anas Ismail Hassan Amer Aburaya, Mahmoud Abdelwase Mahmoud, and Marco Bono showcased exceptional skills in their respective fields of Mechatronics and Electronics, contributing significantly to the success of our robot in the competition. The guidance and support provided by myself, alongside co-mentor Mohammed Saeed Mahmood Ahmed, played a pivotal role in shaping our strategic approach and problem-solving methodologies.

The competition's format, utilizing the SIGVerse simulator to evaluate robots' abilities in natural and friendly communication, presented a challenging yet exhilarating environment for our team. The Handyman Task and Open Challenge demanded that we demonstrate the intelligence and adaptability of our robot in navigating environments, understanding human instructions, and showcasing life support capabilities.

Our noteworthy scores of 70 and 100 in the Handyman Task trials were the culmination of meticulous planning, coding, and extensive testing. Navigating a robot through diverse environments and executing specific instructions required a deep understanding of computer vision, a focus we highlighted in our Open Challenge presentation. Presenting our findings and insights on computer vision not only showcased our technical proficiency but also underscored our ability to communicate complex concepts effectively to a diverse audience.

An additional aspect worth noting is the development of the Human Navigation Task for the workshop, a testament to our commitment to contributing back to the robotics community. Leveraging natural language processing, position determination, and distance calculation methods, our team aimed to simplify human-robot interactions in virtual environments. This initiative not only enhanced our problem-solving skills but also emphasized our responsibility to share knowledge within the broader community.

The intensive eight-week journey leading up to the competition was marked by academic stress and the inherent challenges of working with cutting-edge technology. Nevertheless, overcoming these obstacles and achieving success highlighted the significance of perseverance and effective teamwork. We strategically utilized mentorship from the first-generation KameRider Airost members, incorporating their code as a foundation to expedite our development process and enhance the overall system architecture.

In addition to the team's accomplishments, my role as a volunteer in the RoboCup 2023 Bordeaux added another layer of fulfillment to the experience. Contributing to the broader success of the event while simultaneously guiding Team KameRider Airost amplified the sense of community and shared purpose.

In conclusion, the RoboCup 2023 Bordeaux Simulation Education Challenge has been a transformative experience for both the team and myself. The Best Performance Award is a collective achievement, reflecting our resilience, innovation, and collaborative spirit. As we move forward, the lessons learned from this competition will undoubtedly shape our future endeavors, propelling us to continue pushing the boundaries of robotics and artificial intelligence.

Team KameRider Airost has won the Best Performance Award in the RoboCup 2023 Bordeaux Simulation Education Challenge. Congratulations to them! After their win in the Japan Open 2023, KameRider Airost’s second-generation team has reached greater heights in the international RoboCup 2023 in Bordeaux, France, held from July 5th to 9th. The team consisted of Anas Ismail Hassan Amer Aburaya, leader and 4th-year Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Mechatronics); Mahmoud Abdelwase Mahmoud, 4th-year Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Electronic); and Marco Bono, 4th-year Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Mechatronics). The mentors were Loke Rui Kee, a 2nd-year Bachelor of Computer Science (Bioinformatics), and Mohammed Saeed Mahmood Ahmed, a 3rd-year Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Mechatronics). The advisor was Dr Jeffrey Tan Too Chuan from MyEdu AI Robotics Research Centre.

The RoboCup Simulation competition evaluates the ability of intelligent robots to engage in natural and friendly communication with users while performing various support tasks in daily-life environments. The competition uses the SIGVerse simulator, which allows robots to make embodied and social interactions in virtual reality environments.

This time in Bordeaux, the @Home Simulation event consisted of 2 parts: workshop and challenge. The workshop is led by Rui Kee of @Home Education Simulation to train novice teams and prepare them for the challenge.

All activities occur virtually during the event, but the physical equipment is installed at the RoboCup venue – Bordeaux Exhibition Center in France. The online workshop and challenge are held concurrently with other on-site RoboCup leagues and challenges in the exhibition hall throughout the week.

The challenge consists of two parts: Handyman Task and Open Challenge. In a Handyman Task, the robot needs to understand human instructions to navigate to a specific room, pick up a particular object, and place it in a designated location. Two different trials are conducted, each with a different set of environments and instructions. The winner is the team with the highest score after completing both trials.

As for the Open Challenge, the team is required to conduct a 15-minute presentation that includes a robot simulation demo, followed by a 5-minute Q&A session. The main objective of the Open Challenge is to demonstrate the capabilities of each team’s robot system as a life support robot without any restrictions imposed by the task rules. Teams are encouraged to showcase their latest research and development on new approaches and applications for lifestyle support robots.

Team KameRider Airost performed exceptionally well in the challenge, achieving a remarkable score of 70 in the first trial and 100 in the second. During the Open Challenge, they presented their findings on computer vision, which they had deduced while working on the challenge. In addition, the team contributed to the workshop content by developing the Human Navigation Task. They used natural language processing, position determination, and distance calculation methods to generate simple instructions for humans to interact in a virtual environment and perform specific tasks.

We applaud their magnificent work and efforts. Despite all the difficulties, their dedication throughout the journey is truly remarkable. They overcame academic stress, learned, and developed on multiple platforms within eight weeks. This also proves that every effort counts. With the mentors from Japan Open, who were the first generation KameRider Airost members, and their code as a foundation, the second generation contributed to the development faster and made the overall architecture more mature.

Activities information

1. Date: 5 July - 9 July 2023
2. Venue: Parc des Expositions de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
3. Organizer: RoboCup Federation

Graduate attributes [list]

1. Communication Skills;
2. Thinking Skills;
3. Leadership and Teamworking Skills;
4. Adaptability;
5. Global Citizen;

Position/Role in the activities

• Mentor, Volunteer