Ichiro Team of ITS Achieves Remarkable Victory at RoboCup 2024

Ichiro Team of ITS participating in RoboCup 2024 in the Netherlands.

The Ichiro Team from the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) has once again made a proud achievement by winning at the RoboCup 2024, held in Eindhoven, Netherlands. In this competition, the Ichiro Team participated in two categories, namely Soccer – Humanoid Kidsize League and Technical Challenge, where they secured first place in the Technical Challenge category.

Preparation for RoboCup 2024 began in February, with the Ichiro Team conducting intensive training every night at the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory. Their main focus was on updating the robot’s body design, tidying up the wiring, and improving the robot’s program performance. Evaluations from each regular training session were key to addressing any shortcomings, ensuring that the Ichiro robot performed optimally during the competition.

“The biggest challenge we faced was the short time gap between the RoboCup and the KRI (Kontes Robot Indonesia) National competitions, as well as the relatively distant competition location. However, with our previous experience competing abroad, we managed to overcome these challenges,” said Hanun Shaka, a representative of the Ichiro Team.

Ichiro robot from ITS facing an opponent.

In the Technical Challenge category, the Ichiro Team adopted a unique strategy by using different robots for each challenge. This approach was aimed at evenly distributing the robots’ workload and addressing weaknesses from their experience in RoboCup 2022. The Ichiro robot also possesses a high level of adaptability, not only for the RoboCup competition but also for FIRA, which has similar challenges.

One of the key innovations brought by Ichiro was migrating the system from a monolithic framework to Robot Operating System 2, making the robot’s program more effective. From a hardware perspective, the robot’s body is made almost entirely of carbon fiber, making it stronger and lighter. The updated leg design also provides better stability and flexibility. As with other international competitions, technical challenges were inevitable. The Ichiro Team anticipated this by bringing sufficient spare components and recalibrating when tuning was not aligned with the competition environment.

During the competition, the Ichiro Team experienced many memorable moments, including watching the Humanoid Adult Size League category live and observing innovations from major universities around the world. Additionally, they had the opportunity to participate in a symposium held on the last day of RoboCup 2024, providing them with new insights into robotics research.

Ichiro Team of ITS winning first place in the Technical Challenge category.

This victory is not the end of Ichiro’s journey. They hope to continue achieving success in national and international competitions and to use the knowledge gained from RoboCup 2024 to further develop the Ichiro robot.

“We are very grateful to all the parties who have supported and sponsored us, enabling Ichiro to achieve this success. Stay tuned for the latest innovations from the Ichiro Team,” said Hanun Shaka with great enthusiasm.

With this victory, the Ichiro Team not only brought home a trophy but also carried great hopes for the future of Indonesian robotics on the international stage.