My journey with the MegaHertz robotics team starts in 2017.
This team is part of Elettra Robotics Lab, a group of people that share passion for robotics and want to promote educational robotics.
Some of our teams compete in the soccer categories of RoboCup Junior. In these categories 4 autonomous robots play a 20 minute soccer game, 2 versus 2, 1 team versus the other.
I really like these RoboCup competitions because it encourages the exchange of knowledge in the community and even between competing teams.
Some of our teams compete in the soccer categories of RoboCup Junior. In these categories 4 autonomous robots play a 20 minute soccer game, 2 versus 2, 1 team versus the other.
I really like these RoboCup competitions because it encourages the exchange of knowledge in the community and even between competing teams.
We play in Soccer Lightweight and Soccer Open categories. The main difference is that in the first category robots use infrared sensors to detect the infrared emitted from the ball.
In Soccer Open category robots detect the orange ball using computer vision (we use an OpenMV camera + python code).
Our robots are completely made by us. Following RoboCup rule, we design: chassis, mainboard, wheels and other 3D printed parts.
My first RoboCup competition was in 2018 during the RomeCup, which is a contest valid for the selection of RoboCup Junior worldwide championship. We finished third and we qualified for the RoboCup Junior European championship. Unfortunately, we did not make it to the podium, but we won the "Best robot design" award for our category!
Our robots are completely made by us. Following RoboCup rule, we design: chassis, mainboard, wheels and other 3D printed parts.
My first RoboCup competition was in 2018 during the RomeCup, which is a contest valid for the selection of RoboCup Junior worldwide championship. We finished third and we qualified for the RoboCup Junior European championship. Unfortunately, we did not make it to the podium, but we won the "Best robot design" award for our category!
The following year we tried again, we have built a new robot that uses an omnidirectional vision system to have a 360-degree view (using only one camera, with a 120 degree lens + a mirror), over the entire playing field.
We qualified for the worldwide championship and we flew to Sydney in June 2019.
That was an amazing experience and of course competing internationally was not easy, but we remained in the middle of the ranking.
That was an amazing experience and of course competing internationally was not easy, but we remained in the middle of the ranking.
During the pandemic, we took the opportunity to improve the design of our robots: for example splitting our 190mm of diameter mainboard into two smaller mainboard to get a more conical design.
In addition, we tried new game strategies (see the video below).
At the Italian RoboCup Junior championships, valid for the selection for world championships, we qualified in first place, in May 2021!
Since 2022, I'm one of the team mentors and tech leader.
The video below is our presentation for the virtual RoboCup world championships, check it out if you have time.
At the Italian RoboCup Junior championships, valid for the selection for world championships, we qualified in first place, in May 2021!
Since 2022, I'm one of the team mentors and tech leader.
The video below is our presentation for the virtual RoboCup world championships, check it out if you have time.