Model and behavior-based robotic goalkeeper

Abstract

This paper describes the design, implementation and test of a goalkeeper robot for the Middle-Size League of RoboCup. The goalkeeper task is implemented by a set of primitive tasks and behaviors, coordinated by a 2-level hierarchical state machine. The primitive tasks concerning complex motion control are implemented by a non-linear control algorithm, adapted to the different task goals (e.g., follow the ball or intercept the ball). One of the top level behaviors regularly determines the robot posture from local features extracted from images acquired by a catadioptric omni-directional vision system. Most robot parameters were designed based on simulations carried out with the Hybrid Automata Matlab/Simulink toolbox CheckMate. Results obtained with the actual goalkeeper are presented and discussed.