Towards a league-independent qualitative soccer theory for RoboCup

Abstract

The paper discusses a top-down approach to model soccer knowledge, as it can be found in soccer theory books. The goal is to model soccer strategies and tactics in a way that they are usable for multiple RoboCup soccer leagues, i.e. for different hardware platforms. We investigate if and how soccer theory can be formalized such that specification and execution is possible. The advantage is clear: theory abstracts from hardware and from specific situations in leagues. We introduce basic primitives compliant with the terminology known in soccer theory, discuss an example on an abstract level and formalize it. We then consider aspects of different RoboCup leagues in a case study and examine how examples can be instantiated in three different leagues. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.