AllemaniACs

This year we, the AllemaniACs, gave a little talk and a demo for participants of the Schüleruniversität.
Specifically, Caesar introduced itself to the students and we explained some details about our approaches to Localization and Collision Avoidance, Navigation, and Path Planning. We also demonstrated some capabilities of one of our Naos.

We've arrived in Graz, Austria to participate the RoboCup 2009 which is being held at the Stadthalle in Graz, Austria, obviously.
We'll try to keep you posted on what's happening and how we are doing.

Robots are machines that exist to perform specific functions or tasks in the physical world. To achieve this, a control software is required on the robot that drives its actuators, perceives the environment with its sensors and makes decisions and executes actions. The Fawkes robot software framework provides an integrated software package to develop such systems.

Team

The 2009 Team:

• Prof. G. Lakemeyer, Ph.D., Head of Department
• Stefan Schiffer, Ph.D. Student, TeamLeader
• Tim Niemüller, Master student
• Masrur Doostdar, Master student

Qualification Video 2009

Qualification video (03m33s):

• [avi (12 MB, XviD)] (Get XviD codec here)
• [wmv (37 MB)]
• [YouTube ]
• More videos can be found in the media section or in the AllemaniACs YouTube Channel.

Robot

Have a look at our platform and our arm.

Team Description Paper

Team Description Paper: [pdf]

Publications

List of publications: [on this site], [on the KBSG website]
Of special interest to RoboCup@Home:

• Football is Coming Home
• Combining Sound Localization and Laser-based Object Recognition
• A Robust Speech Recognition System for Service-Robotics Applications (Best Paper Award)
• A Fuzzy Logic Semantics for Qualitative Fluents in the Situation Calculus
• Real-Time One-Step Face Detection, Recognition, and Learning

Scientific Approaches

• Robust laser-based localization.
• Reliable collision avoidance and navigation using A*-search.
• Robust speech recognition with a system based on CMUSphinx.
• Face detection, recognition, and learning using random forests
• Logic-based high-level agent behavior specification in ReadyLog.
• ...

Contributions to RoboCup@Home

• Hosting the RoboCup@Home Wiki.
• Contributions to the RoboCup@Home Wiki: S.Schiffer, T.Niemueller, M.Doostdar, V.Belle.
• Hosting infrastructure for Technical Committee and Organizing Committee.
• S. Schiffer designed the new RoboCup@Home logo.
• S. Schiffer served as a member of the RoboCup@Home Technical Committee in 2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2008/2009.

Previous Participations in RoboCup@Home

• RoboCup 2006 Bremen, Germany, 1st Place.
• RoboCup German Open 2007 Hannover, 1st Place.
• RoboCup 2007 Atlanta, USA, 1st Place.
• RoboCup German Open 2008 Hannover, 1st Place.
• RoboCup 2008 Suzhou, China, 2nd Place.

We've just arrived in Suzhou, China to participate the RoboCup 2008 which is being held at the Suzhou Expo Center (event link, GoogleMaps) in Suzhou Industrial Park in Suzhou, China, obviously.
Since we arrived not until today, there's not much to tell yet. But since we have Internet access in our accomodation (the Student Dormitory), we'll try to keep you posted on what's happening and how we are doing as fast as we can.

We, the AllemaniACs, with our champion robot Caesar participated at the "Tag der Technik" 2008 which is being held under the patronage of Germany's Federal President Horst Köhler. Initiated by the Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI), this nationwide collection of events is meant to give insights and to foster fascination for technology, to elate young kids and teenagers for technical careers.

Specifically, Caesar served as an assistant at the "Manege der Innovationen" in Sankt Augustin, helping moderator Helge Haas known from TV shows such as "Kopfball" in guiding through a show that took place in a circus tent right next to Schloss Birlinghoven at the Fraunhofer IZB.

The AllemaniACs are looking for a new main sponsor to help us finance our robotics endeavour. We have a lot to offer to a potential sponsor so if you are able and willing to support the team read on.

The Robot World Cup 2009 (RoboCup 2009) will be held in Graz, Austria by the Graz University of Technology.

We've just arrived in Hannover to participate the RoboCup German Open 2008 which are being held at Hannover Fair. This year, we have four participating teams which are as follows: We, the AllemaniACs from RWTH Aachen University, IAIS-BIT from FH Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, Meteor-M from Switzerland, and Homer from Uni Koblenz. There is a section on RoboCup@Home at the German Open website.
Oh, one more thing: take a look at http://planet.fedoraproject.org/, where the blog posts of Tim appear.