Team SPQR at the robot world championship
One of the most awaited demonstrations at RomeCup for younger children, but not only, are the penalty shootout challenges with the Nao robots goalies, organised by researchers from the "Antonio Ruberti" Department of Computer Engineering, Control and Management at Sapienza University of Rome. However, perhaps not everyone knows that in reality the Nao robots trained by the university group are a real team of footballers who have participated in the robotics world championships for the Standard Platform League category since 1998.
SPQR is the only Italian team amongst the 20 that have qualified for the football championship underway in Eindhoven, from July 17 to 21. This is a high-level team that has already produced 24 publications for the RoboCup symposia and received three mentions for best paper in 2006, 2015, and 2023.
How does the challenge work? In the RoboCup Standard Platform League, all teams participate using the same robot: a Nao from United Robotics Group. This means that whoever has developed the most effective software for gaming strategies wins. In fact, the robots play completely autonomously, and each one makes decisions separately from the others, but they still have to play as a team by communicating with the coach. The match is played on a green pitch with white lines and two goals, without other reference points, and with a realistic black and white soccer ball. The game characteristics generate a very challenging scenario, which allows the championship to be improved every year.
The Prisma company, the main sponsor of Team SPQR, has also carried out a series of interviews with the team members this year which we suggest you read, because the preparation and passion of the young researchers strongly emerges, along with the complexity of the challenge.
The SPQR Team is led by Daniele Nardi, Full Professor of Artificial Intelligence, with Luca Iocchi, Associate Professor. The team manager is Domenico Bloisi. The group includes: Vincenzo Suriani (Team leader), Graziano Specchi, Francesco Petri, Daniele Affinita, Flavio Maiorana, Valerio Spagnoli, Flavio Volpi, Michele Brienza, and Eugenio Bugli.
This is a joint team that collaborates with the University of Basilicata with professors Fabrizio Caccavale and Francesco Pierri, and Monica Sileo and Francesco Laus in the team, and of the University of International Studies of Rome (UNINT) with professors Domenico Daniele Bloisi and Marco Romano.
Sapienza University currently owns six Nao V6 robots and is about to order another eight, while UniBas has two. Unint is about to sign its first player.
