Hierarchical Reactive Control for Soccer Playing Humanoid Robots

Abstract

This chapter described the design of the behavior control software for our humanoid soccer robots, which successfully took part as team NimbRo at the RoboCup 2006 competitions. We implemented the control software in a framework that supports a hierarchy of reactive behaviors. This structure restricts interactions between the system variables and thus reduces the complexity of behavior engineering. A kinematic interface for body parts made it possible to abstract from individual joints when implementing basic skills like omnidirectional walking. These basic skills made it possible to abstract from body parts when implementing more complex soccer behaviors. At this player level, our humanoid robots are very similar to wheeled or four-legged soccer robots. Finally, at the team level, the players are coordinated through role negotiation. Playing soccer with humanoid robots is a complex task, and the development has only started. So far, there has been significant progress in the Humanoid League, which moved in its few years from remotely controlled robots to soccer games with fully autonomous humanoids. Indeed, the Humanoid League is currently the most dynamic RoboCupSoccer