IUB team in the finals of RoboCupRescue League

After several hard days of qualification rounds, the IUB team made it into the finals of the RoboCupRescue League, currently being held at RoboCup 2003 in Padua, Italy.

[ Jul 08, 2003]  In RoboCupRescue, robots operate in a simulated disaster scenario that could be encountered after an earthquake or a gas explosion. The robots have to locate victims and gather as much data as possible that can be helpful in such a situation.

The IUB team, consisting of Professor Dr. Andreas Birk, Dr. Holger Kenn, Dr. Stefano Carpin, and Ph.D. student Martijn Rooker, had a difficult start but consistently improved and managed to demonstrate advanced techniques that were not matched by any other team. One of the unique highlights of the IUB team is the autonomous building of maps. For this purpose, data from a laser scanner, a compass, and from motion analysis of the robot are used to generate a metric map of the site, marking obstacles, feature lists, the path of the robot, and of course the locations of the victims.

Originally, 19 teams registered for this competition, but only 12 managed to attend with working robots. IUB and three other teams will participate in the finals.

RoboCup 2003 in Padua For further information about the event in Padua more info »