This is the first time RoboCup Asia-Pacific, a “younger brother” of the international RoboCup was held. When the latter was held in Japan this July, ITMO University also proved victorious, having received the “Novice Award” in the On Stage category of the RoboCup Junior league.
ITMO University Team in Thailand
ITMO’s team participated in the same category at the competition in Thailand. The On Stage category requires robots to put on a show for those attending the championship. Seldon is an experienced performer who has already proved his talent on the international stage. His signature performance of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” is accompanied by a ukulele and back-up dancers. During his performance, Seldon was accompanied by three more robots and two members of the team. The Eyebot was in charge of communicating with Seldon, and the two lesser Darwin robots were backup dancers.
To Bangkok, Seldon brought not only experience, but an improved design, too: the frame of the robot has been reinforced, and its mechanics are more sophisticated. Thanks to the school team from ITMO University, under the guidance of coaches Igor Lositsky and Evgeny Zavarin from the Department of Computer Science and Control Systems, Seldon can now speak and answer questions in English. The robot also has technical vision and two cameras, one of which controls Eyebot (Seldon controls its position on the stage), while the other helps him interact with people.
All in all, the project involved five school students: Levon Pogosov, Boris Frolikov, Daniil Nechaev, Daniil Martynov, and Gleb Zagarskikh, all students from schools in and around St. Petersburg.
Seldon’s Performance
“In our category, first place was taken by an Australian team; we missed the gold by just one point. Unfortunately, on our first day in Thailand, the main robot constructor got sick. On the most important day of the competition we had to take him to the hospital, and he was sick throughout our trip. Of course, there were other challenges, too, but we managed. Perhaps without these complications, we would’ve had an even better result”, commented Igor Lositsky.
Next year, the school team from ITMO University will amaze the audiences of international championships with a new project; however, work on the beloved Seldon is still not over, and he still has some more victories in his future.
Learn more about Seldon’s path to stardom here in our article.
