CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

The European Robotics League - Consumer Service Robots (ERL Consumer) is an innovative concept for robot competitions that focuses on tasks executed by domestic service robots in a real home environment.

The ERL started in 2016 and had three successful Seasons (2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19), interrupted by the COVID pandemic. The new ERL framework for 2021-22 is composed of multiple Local Tournaments, held in different research labs across Europe, with certified test beds. Meanwhile, the H2020 SciRoc project organised another successful ERL Smart Cities Tournament in Bologna (check links with all information here: https://sciroc.org).

During the year-long Tournament Seasons, teams participate in a minimum of two tournaments per year and get scores based on their performances. Scores of the best two participations in tournaments for each team are added and teams are ranked based on their cumulative score. Prizes for the top teams are awarded during the next year’s European Robotics Forum (ERF).

For more information, please visit https://eu-robotics.net/robotics_league/ .

As part of the 2021/22 Season, we are pleased to announce a Local Tournament of the ERL Consumer challenge, to be held between 9-13th May 2022 at León, Spain.

Important dates

  • 24 Apr 2022 - Deadline for application

  • 01 May 2022 - Qualification announcement

  • 09 May 2022 - Competition begins

  • 13 May 2022 - Competition ends

Rules

The rules of the competition can be downloaded from: https://www.eu-robotics.net/robotics_league/upload/erl-rulebooks/ERL_Consumer_2020_Updated.pdf

For the Local ERL Consumer Tournament, the following task benchmarks (TBMs) will be (tentatively) considered:

  • TBM1: Getting to Know My Home

  • TBM2: Welcoming Visitors

  • TBM3: Catering for Granny Annie's Comfort

  • TBM4: Visit My Home

Please read carefully the rulebook for significant updates on the TBMs with respect to the past ERL Service Robots rulebook.

Besides, the following Functionality benchmarks (FBMs) will be (tentatively) considered:

  • Object perception functionality

  • Navigation functionality

  • Speech Understanding Functionality

  • People Perception Functionality

Application

Applicant teams must send an email to erl.service@robotics-league.eu expressing their intention to participate in the Tournament and providing the following information about the team:

  • Team name

  • Team Leader name

  • Total number of team members (including the team leader)

  • Affiliation

  • Contact information (e-mail and phone of team leader)

  • Website

  • Qualification material (see below).

Qualification Material

Applicants are required to submit (template can be downloaded from https://www.eu-robotics.net/robotics_league/upload/documents-2016/team-description-paper.zip):

  • Team Description Paper (TDP) (max. 4 pages, LNCS [3]) explaining the team’s approach to the technical challenges - including:

    1. The list of TBMs the team intends to participate in.

    2. A brief description of the robot system software and hardware architectures.

    3. The relation with the team research - including a list of relevant publications.

  • Video showing evidence of some performance in the tasks and/or functionalities selected by the team.

Selection Criteria

Teams will be selected for participation based on:

  1. Number of available slots for team participation in the tournament.

  2. Team research quality, as measured from the TDP and list of relevant publications.