But why did the RoboCup federation choose for a football league? First of all, soccer is a popular sport worldwide so soccer competitions get a lot of attention from spectators since a lot of people enjoy watching soccer matches.

The soccer robots must communicate with each other and with elements from its constantly changing environment. Think about the interaction between the robots and the referee or deciding which robot will take a free kick or which robot will be the attacker or will stay in front of the goal to defend. The speed of the game forces us to come up with efficient algorithms. At the same time, the fixed dimensions of the field give us a starting point from which we can start making smart localization and object detection.

Playing soccer with robots is a huge challenge on the field of software and mechatronics. Moreover, the element of competition makes that the entire team is highly motivated so they will spend a large part of their spare time on improving the robots. Everyone dreams of being the world champion some day!

There are different RoboCup competitions: Some of them, but not all, are the Simulation League, Small Size League, Middle Size League, Standard Platform League and Humanoid League.

The soccer robots of Tech United participate in the Middle Size League. This is a competition of robots with a maximum size of 52x52x80 cm. They play fully autonomously. The only interaction with humans is that with the referee, who can start or stop they play when necessary. 

2017
World Championship, Nagoya, Japan: 2nd place. Scientific Challenge Award.
Portuguese Open, Coimbra: 1st place

2015
World Championship, Hefei, China: 2nd place. Scientific Challenge Award.
Portuguese Open, Vila Real: 1st place

2013
World Championship, Eindhoven, the Netherlands: 2nd place. Scientific Challenge Award.
Portugese Open, Lisbon, Portugal: 1st place

2011
World Championship, Istanbul, Turkey : 2nd place
German Open Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany: 1st place

2009
World Championship, Graz, Germany : 2nd place
German Open, Hannover, Germany: 3rd place

2007
World Championship, Atlanta, USA: 5th place
German Open, Hannover, Germany: 3rd place

2005
Toboludens Dutch Open, Eindhoven, the Netherlands

2018
World Championship, Montreal, Canada: 1st place. Technical and Scientific Challenge Award.
Portuguese Open, Torres Vedras, Portugal: 1st place

2016
World Championship, Leipzig, Germany: 1st place
Portuguese Open, Braganca: 2nd place
RoboCup Eindhoven Open, Eindhoven, the Netherlands: 1st place

2014
World Championship, João Pessoa, Brazil: 1st place
Portuguese Open, Porto, Portugal: 1st place

2012
World Championship, Mexico city, Mexico: 1st place. Scientific Challenge Award.
RoboCup Dutch Open, Eindhoven, the Netherlands: 1st place

2010
World Championship, Singapore: 2nd place. Scientific Challenge Award.
German Open, Magdeburg, Germany: 1st place

2008
World Championship, Suzhou, China: 2nd place
German Open, Hannover Germany: 1st place

2006
World Championship, Bremen, Germany

Team Description Paper

Once a year, our team publishes a Team Description Paper. These documents describe the main innovations for each RoboCup season. For 2019 the TDP can be found below. 

Team Description Paper 2019

Qualification video

Every year Tech United's TURTLE has to show its abilities in a 1 minute short movie. This video shows all the basic abilities and special features of our TURTLE. This years movie is visible below.

Mechanical and electrical design

The technical drawings of the Tech United hardware can be found by clicking on the following links (zip files).

Mechanical drawings | Electrical drawings

A detailed list of hardware specifications, along with CAD files of the base, upper-body, ball handling and shooting mechanism, has been published on a ROP wiki which can be viewed by clicking here.

Software Flow Charts

The MATLAB Simulink flow charts of the Tech United software can be found by clicking on the links below (opening in Internet Explorer requires a seperate plugin).

Software Scheme | Motion | Vision | World model

Publications

Recent publications

• Member exective committee MSL, W. Houtman (2018 - present) 
• Member technical committee MSL, W. Houtman (2017-2018)
• Organisation of MSL workshop in Eindhoven, W.J.P. Kuijpers (2017)
• Member Organization Committee RoboCup MSL, Lotte de Koning (2016 - 2017)
• Organisation RoboCup European Open 2016, Eindhoven
• Maintenance of the official MSL Wiki (2015)
• Organisation of MSL workshop in Eindhoven (2014)
• TURTLE 5k, a low-cost robot for RoboCup MSL (2013)
• Member exective committee MSL, R.P.T. Soetens (2013 - 2017) 
• Organisation of RoboCup 2013, Eindhoven
• Member technical committee MSL, R.P.T. Soetens (2012 - 2013)
• Organisation of RoboCup Dutch Open 2012, Eindhoven
• Administrator robocup-mid mailing list, R.J.E. Merry (2010 – 2012)
• Maintainer MSL Wiki page, R.J.E. Merry (2010 – 2012)
• Middle Size League Executive, R.J.E. Merry (2010 - 2012)
• Chair Organizing Committee,  R.J.E. Merry (2009 & 2011)
• Technical Committee, R.J.E Merry (2008 and 2009)
• Contribution to the refbox development, P.E.J. van Brakel (2007-2008)
• Organisation of the RoboCup Challenge 2005 in Eindhoven, ERC (2005)