La Salle leads winning RP soccer robots in world cup

De La Salle University-Manila led the Philippine soccer robot team in a fiery World Cup debut in Australia last September 18-24, bringing home one gold and one silver medal. The team also emerged as world number two, next to soccer robot leader South Korea.

The team of Filipino scientists shared the centerstage with the South Koreans at the Federation of International Robot-soccer Association (FIRA) Robot World Cup 2000 held in Central Queensland University, Australia . The Philippine soccer robots captured the gold medal in the Millennium Challenge and the silver medal in the Benchmark Category.

Lasallians commemorate first year of canonization of 9 La Salle Brothers “To die for Christ is to reign ... Whoever loses his life for Christ will find it.” These were the last words of Brother Jaime Hilario before his death. He was one of the nine La Salle brothers canonized in Rome in 1999. Last October 9, the Lasallian community commemorated him and the eight martyrs of Turon, who were executed on the same day in 1934 in a coal mining town in Austrias, Spain. The martyrs were not political victims. They died because of the hatred of their executioners for the faith, which in those days was taken to incredible extremes. They were not martyrs of the Spanish Republic but of their love for Christ. The Brothers of Turon were: Saint Cirilo Bertrán, Saint Marciano José, Saint Julián Alfredo, Saint Victoriano Pío, Saint Benjamín Julián, Saint Augusto Andrés, Saint Benito de Jesús, and Saint Aniceto Adolfo.

Thirteen teams of seven countries pitted talent and technology, with South Korea fielding four teams. Other competitors included Singapore (two teams), Australia (two), and China, Canada, and Taiwan, which entered one team each. The Philippines banked on two teams in its debut performance in the prestigious world cup.

In a report, Philippine team leader Dr. Elmer Dadios, DLSU-Manila Manufacturing Engineering and Management faculty, attributed the victory to “the significant improvements the team made on the vision system and the strong know-how on artificial intelligence algorithm.” The Philippine robots competed in two major tournament categories: Benchmarking, which included the FIRA Millennium Challenge and the FIRA Benchmark Exercise; and the MIROSOT competition.

The Millennium Challenge called the teams to complete a circuit, a prescribed plan of action to be performed by three robots at different points. Dadios considered the category “an extremely difficult exercise,” which measured the robots’ decision-making capabilities. On the other hand, the FIRA Benchmark Exercise consisted of ball striking, goal scoring, and passing between robot players and shooting. This exercise simulated the components of a soccer game or activities of a soccer team warming up for a game. Similar to the criteria in the Millennium Challenge, robots had to perform an assigned action, only this time, points were awarded based on accuracy of action, repeatability of motion sequence as prescribed, and smoothness of motion.

The Philippines saw action again in the MIROSOT competition which pitted three robots from each team in a soccer game. In a roster of 13 teams from the different countries, four teams from Korea captured the top slots, while the Philippine teams landed the fifth and ninth place, making the Philippines second overall winner as per country standing. The S-MIROSOT competition was dominated by Korea which captured both gold and silver medals. China emerged as bronze medalist. The Philippine delegation was composed of researchers from both DLSU-Manila and the University of the Philippines-Diliman. Completing the line up of researchers were Dadios, Odon Maravillas, Gimi Orcullo, Michael Angelo Pedrasa, Edwin Sybingco, and Dr. Florante Salvador.

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