TOWARD INTEGRATED SOCCER ROBOTS

Robot soccer competition provides an excellent opportunity for integra ted robotics research. In particular, robot players in a soccer game m ust recognize and track objects in real time, navigate in a dynamic fi eld, collaborate with teammates, and strike the ball in the correct di rection. All these tasks demand robots that are autonomous (sensing, t hinking, and acting as independent creatures), efficient (functioning under time and resource constraints), cooperative (collaborating with each other to accomplish tasks that are beyond an individual's capabil ities), and intelligent (reasoning and planning actions and perhaps le arning from experience). Furthermore, all these capabilities must be i ntegrated into a single and complete system, which raises a set of cha llenges that are new to individual research disciplines. This article describes our experience (problems and solutions) in these aspects. Ou r robots share the same general architecture and basic hardware, but t hey have integrated abilities to play different roles (goalkeeper, def ender, or forward) and use different strategies in their behavior. Our philosophy in building these robots is to use the least sophisticatio n to make them as robust and integrated as possible. At RoboCup-97, he ld as part of the Fifteenth International Joint Conference on Artifici al Intelligence, these integrated robots performed well, and our DREAM TEAM won the world championship in the middle-size robot league.