All the news from the European Robotics League (ERL) 2018/2019
The European Robotics League 2018/2019 season comes with lots of news! One is that the ERL Consumer League benchmark tasks (TBMs) have evolved with respect to the previous edition. Another big news to remark is that a new challenge joins the ERL: the first Smart Cities Robotics Challenge (SciRoc)!
PAL Robotics is proud to announce that we are renewing our commitment of sponsoring the ERL Consumer League, and extend it to the SciRoc Challenge! As our CEO Francesco Ferro stated, “The ERL boosts service robotics through an exciting challenge. With all its leagues, it drives participants and the entire robotics field to their limits while promoting cooperation between teams.”
Once again, we will offer the possibility of loaning a TIAGo robot to make sure that any interested team can participate. TIAGo’s features make it perfect for helping people in a home environment, and its expansion options can help to easily transform the robot to adapt it to the team’s needs and abilities.
For the SciRoc Challenge, we will provide TIAGo, and also the full-size humanoid robot REEM-C, which means that for the first time a full-sized humanoid robot will be used at ERL. Details on the robots loans and participation will be soon announced!
What is the ERL SciRoc Challenge?
The ERL SciRoc Challenge widens the scope of applications that have been tested until now and involves robotics with Smart Cities. The competition consists of creating a new “smart shopping” experience by integrating robots into a shopping mall.
Robots like TIAGo or REEM-C will have certain tasks to accomplish, called “episodes”, such as to serve goodies, open a door, push a cart or take care of an unattended item. Each episode addresses a specific research challenge and can be classified into three categories: HRI & Mobility, Manipulation, and Emergency. The first ERL SciRoc Challenge will be held in the Milton Keynes Shopping Centre (UK), from Sept. 16th to 22nd 2019.
The ERL Season started at IROS 2018!
The season started at IROS 2018: we could enjoy a Major Tournament with up to 8 teams participating, a big audience, and a great dose of emotion! Congratulations to Team PUMAS, from Mexico, for winning all TBMs in this Tournament! Awards were given during the IROS Forum on Competitions. That was also the place where the updates on ERL Consumer League and the 1st SciRoc Challenge, as well as PAL Robotics’ sponsorship, were announced.
Don’t miss out our blog on robotics and don’t hesitate to contact us for any question!
