An option for all teams to participate remotely in RMRC this year.
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Raymond Sheh
May 12, 2021, 1:35:51 PM5/12/21
to The Open Academic Robot Kit
Hi All!
The survey results are in and, unfortunately, it is clear that many schools are still not in a position to safely resume activities like RMRC. We applaud and fully support these decisions - we'd much rather wait another year and have all of you safe and healthy for the next time we're able to gather in our classrooms and robotics clubs to prepare for and run RMRC. We will work directly with the few teams who have indicated that they are able to compete with robots this year, to determine how to run a viable, fair competition or demo, given the common resources and robot capabilities.
So that all teams still have the opportunity to participate even if they can't get together to build and run their robots, this year we will also run a video presentation competition. This can help us to still come together virtually, share what we've been able to accomplish, and prepare for coming years. To participate in the video presentation competition, teams are required to submit a tutorial/demonstration video that encourages new teams to join RMRC in the future, and helps existing teams to learn something new and useful for them to improve their robots. It does not require your team members to get together physically, nor for your robot to be working, nor does it require your test lanes to be used (although you are welcome to demonstrate with your robot and terrains if you wish). Teams that have ideas for interesting designs, software, user interfaces, ways of analysing past performance (their own and others) to improve training or strategy, etc. are encouraged to participate.
Requirements for Video:
- A tutorial/demonstration video that welcomes new teams, introduces your team, the competition, highlights of your robots, design, or idea, and teaches something cool/interesting that your team can do.
- The video should be no more than 20 minutes long. A shorter video might be better if you get the point across concisely while maintaining the viewer's interest.
- The video could be in English or your native language. If the video is not in English, please include either an English dub or subtitles in English. Subtitles can be either "hard subbed" or as metadata (e.g. a well synchronised SRT file that your video hosting service can display with the video). Note that your video will likely be assessed based on the English subtitles.
- A team can submit more than one video. However, each video *must* be on a completely different subject and will be judged on its own merits.
Video Submission:
- Teams must upload the video(s) to a publicly accessible video sharing site (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.). If possible, please use YouTube. The videos should be set to publicly available. We are planning on making a YouTube playlist to increase viewership so if you cannot access YouTube, you may also send us a link to download the video file, which we can then upload to YouTube for you.
- The public link to the uploaded video must be submitted to the OAR...@googlegroups.com mailing list by the start of RoboCup (22nd June).
Video Competition Organization:
- During the second half of RoboCup week, a couple of virtual workshops will be held where teams can ask questions, discuss each other's videos, and socialise. The schedule of the virtual workshops will be announced later. The workshops will be scheduled with the time zones of participating teams into consideration.
- At the end of the week, the Organising Committee will score all of the videos satisfying the above criteria according to the following equally weighted categories. The team with the video that scores the highest total sum across the 5 categories will receive an award.
-- Is welcoming to new teams.
-- Teaches new and/or existing teams something innovative, interesting, or cool.
-- Serves as a good advertisement for the team and the competition. This includes description and tags that help new, prospective teams find the video.
-- Maintains the viewers' interest, has artistic merit, and is entertaining.
-- Is technically accurate and academically sound (e.g. cites sources where relevant).
Some suggestions:
- A well filmed submission using mobile phone cameras and edited together with ffmpeg or Lightworks (both available for free) is quite acceptable. There is no need to invest in new cameras or editing software.
- Do not try to cover everything your team does. Focus on one or a small number of features that may be useful to other teams and hold the viewers'; interest.
- Make sure your footage is stable (unless you're using shake *sparingly* for artistic impact). Ideally use a tripod, otherwise make sure your stabilisation features are turned on.
- Make sure your audio is clear. If doing voiceovers, experiment with microphones you have available and pick a location that is quiet (hanging blankets against hard walls can do wonders to reduce room noise). If doing an interview or speaking to the camera, a separate microphone (e.g. one that can be worn on the collar and connects to a mobile phone to record) may be a worthwhile investment.
- Make sure that any content you use (including music) is used in accordance with applicable copyright regulations.
- To maximise ongoing re-use of your video, we highly recommend releasing your video under a permissive license (e.g. one of the Creative Commons licenses).
Do also note that to participate, like in previous years you will still need to register for RoboCup (although the fees for Junior are greatly reduced to $50 for a team + 1 mentor, $20 per team member or additional mentor - see https://2021.robocup.org/participants/registration-process-and-fees ) and sign a photo and video release form. The deadline for registering a team is June 7 and for additional team members and mentors is June 28. Team members can only register after the team has been registered. We are having open qualification this year so to receive a code that will allow you to register, please send us an email at in...@oarkit.org with the following details:
- Team Name
- Primary contact person name
- Primary contact email
- Organisation name
- Country
- Secondary contact people and emails
We look forward to seeing you (virtually) and your videos!
- Raymond and your RMRC Committee
--
Dr. Raymond Sheh
Research Professor
Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology
Georgetown University
506 Reiss Science Building
37th and O Streets NW, Washington DC 20057, USA
Guest Researcher
Intelligent Systems Division
National Institute of Standards and Technology
U.S. Department of Commerce
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8230, Gaithersburg MD 20899-8230, USA
Senior Lecturer (Adjunct)
Department of Computing
Curtin University of Technology
Street: Building 314, Kent Street, Bentley WA 6102, AUSTRALIA
Mail: GPO Box U1987, Perth WA 6845, AUSTRALIA
The survey results are in and, unfortunately, it is clear that many schools are still not in a position to safely resume activities like RMRC. We applaud and fully support these decisions - we'd much rather wait another year and have all of you safe and healthy for the next time we're able to gather in our classrooms and robotics clubs to prepare for and run RMRC. We will work directly with the few teams who have indicated that they are able to compete with robots this year, to determine how to run a viable, fair competition or demo, given the common resources and robot capabilities.
So that all teams still have the opportunity to participate even if they can't get together to build and run their robots, this year we will also run a video presentation competition. This can help us to still come together virtually, share what we've been able to accomplish, and prepare for coming years. To participate in the video presentation competition, teams are required to submit a tutorial/demonstration video that encourages new teams to join RMRC in the future, and helps existing teams to learn something new and useful for them to improve their robots. It does not require your team members to get together physically, nor for your robot to be working, nor does it require your test lanes to be used (although you are welcome to demonstrate with your robot and terrains if you wish). Teams that have ideas for interesting designs, software, user interfaces, ways of analysing past performance (their own and others) to improve training or strategy, etc. are encouraged to participate.
Requirements for Video:
- A tutorial/demonstration video that welcomes new teams, introduces your team, the competition, highlights of your robots, design, or idea, and teaches something cool/interesting that your team can do.
- The video should be no more than 20 minutes long. A shorter video might be better if you get the point across concisely while maintaining the viewer's interest.
- The video could be in English or your native language. If the video is not in English, please include either an English dub or subtitles in English. Subtitles can be either "hard subbed" or as metadata (e.g. a well synchronised SRT file that your video hosting service can display with the video). Note that your video will likely be assessed based on the English subtitles.
- A team can submit more than one video. However, each video *must* be on a completely different subject and will be judged on its own merits.
Video Submission:
- Teams must upload the video(s) to a publicly accessible video sharing site (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.). If possible, please use YouTube. The videos should be set to publicly available. We are planning on making a YouTube playlist to increase viewership so if you cannot access YouTube, you may also send us a link to download the video file, which we can then upload to YouTube for you.
- The public link to the uploaded video must be submitted to the OAR...@googlegroups.com mailing list by the start of RoboCup (22nd June).
Video Competition Organization:
- During the second half of RoboCup week, a couple of virtual workshops will be held where teams can ask questions, discuss each other's videos, and socialise. The schedule of the virtual workshops will be announced later. The workshops will be scheduled with the time zones of participating teams into consideration.
- At the end of the week, the Organising Committee will score all of the videos satisfying the above criteria according to the following equally weighted categories. The team with the video that scores the highest total sum across the 5 categories will receive an award.
-- Is welcoming to new teams.
-- Teaches new and/or existing teams something innovative, interesting, or cool.
-- Serves as a good advertisement for the team and the competition. This includes description and tags that help new, prospective teams find the video.
-- Maintains the viewers' interest, has artistic merit, and is entertaining.
-- Is technically accurate and academically sound (e.g. cites sources where relevant).
Some suggestions:
- A well filmed submission using mobile phone cameras and edited together with ffmpeg or Lightworks (both available for free) is quite acceptable. There is no need to invest in new cameras or editing software.
- Do not try to cover everything your team does. Focus on one or a small number of features that may be useful to other teams and hold the viewers'; interest.
- Make sure your footage is stable (unless you're using shake *sparingly* for artistic impact). Ideally use a tripod, otherwise make sure your stabilisation features are turned on.
- Make sure your audio is clear. If doing voiceovers, experiment with microphones you have available and pick a location that is quiet (hanging blankets against hard walls can do wonders to reduce room noise). If doing an interview or speaking to the camera, a separate microphone (e.g. one that can be worn on the collar and connects to a mobile phone to record) may be a worthwhile investment.
- Make sure that any content you use (including music) is used in accordance with applicable copyright regulations.
- To maximise ongoing re-use of your video, we highly recommend releasing your video under a permissive license (e.g. one of the Creative Commons licenses).
Do also note that to participate, like in previous years you will still need to register for RoboCup (although the fees for Junior are greatly reduced to $50 for a team + 1 mentor, $20 per team member or additional mentor - see https://2021.robocup.org/participants/registration-process-and-fees ) and sign a photo and video release form. The deadline for registering a team is June 7 and for additional team members and mentors is June 28. Team members can only register after the team has been registered. We are having open qualification this year so to receive a code that will allow you to register, please send us an email at in...@oarkit.org with the following details:
- Team Name
- Primary contact person name
- Primary contact email
- Organisation name
- Country
- Secondary contact people and emails
We look forward to seeing you (virtually) and your videos!
- Raymond and your RMRC Committee
--
Dr. Raymond Sheh
Research Professor
Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology
Georgetown University
506 Reiss Science Building
37th and O Streets NW, Washington DC 20057, USA
Guest Researcher
Intelligent Systems Division
National Institute of Standards and Technology
U.S. Department of Commerce
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8230, Gaithersburg MD 20899-8230, USA
Senior Lecturer (Adjunct)
Department of Computing
Curtin University of Technology
Street: Building 314, Kent Street, Bentley WA 6102, AUSTRALIA
Mail: GPO Box U1987, Perth WA 6845, AUSTRALIA
Raymond Sheh
Jun 1, 2021, 10:55:38 AM6/1/21
to The Open Academic Robot Kit, raymon...@georgetown.edu, raymon...@nist.gov
Hi All!
Just a reminder to send the following details to in...@oarkit.org *before* you attempt to register at https://2021.robocup.org/participants/registration-process-and-fees if you wish to participate in this part of the competition. Registration deadline is 7th of June (in a week!).
Just a reminder to send the following details to in...@oarkit.org *before* you attempt to register at https://2021.robocup.org/participants/registration-process-and-fees if you wish to participate in this part of the competition. Registration deadline is 7th of June (in a week!).
- Team Name
- Primary contact person name
- Primary contact email
- Organisation name
- Country
- Secondary contact people and emails
Cheers!
- Raymond
- Raymond
--
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matej...@gmail.com
Jun 2, 2021, 2:38:35 AM6/2/21
to The Open Academic Robot Kit
Hello
Do we need send you a TDM?
Best regards
torek, 01. junij 2021 ob 16:55:38 UTC+2 je oseba Raymond.Sheh napisala:
Raymond Sheh
Jun 2, 2021, 11:01:33 AM6/2/21
to matej...@gmail.com, The Open Academic Robot Kit, raymo...@gmail.com
Hi Matej, All,
There is no TDM required for the video competition described in this email thread. Actually the video is kind of almost like a TDM anyway. Just send us the info below and we'll give you the code to register.
Cheers!
- Raymond
There is no TDM required for the video competition described in this email thread. Actually the video is kind of almost like a TDM anyway. Just send us the info below and we'll give you the code to register.
Cheers!
- Raymond
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/oarkit/b86d283a-795b-4531-a01f-62e036bbaa09n%40googlegroups.com.
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