The Netherlands in the Junior League

29 Jun, 2013

Apart from the Major League, there are also several Dutch teams in the Junior League. Amongst them is the Rescue team Humblebot (in the Secondary category, ages 15-19). This team is made up of two boys, whose school teacher had asked them to participate in this tournament. Even between the matches, it is obvious that they are very enthusiastic and are very much into the competition.

After the first few rounds, the boys are not doing bad – they have the highest scores of all Dutch teams in the Rescue League and their total position is above average. Three games are played each day. One of the boys shows that the robot contains different programmes; a new version of a programme takes over from a previous one, but this is kept inside the robot in case of a failure in the new programme.

From a certain point, ‘Superteams’ are made in the Rescue League, consisting of two separate teams. Team Humblebot has been coupled with an American team. They have to cooperate; their robots will enter the arena together. One of the robots has to explore the arena and communicate the information to the other, after which the latter has to follow a certain path.

The best part of the tournament, according to the boys, is the fact that they learn a lot. They also obtain knowledge from other teams. “Everyone is very friendly here.” Following the question whether the boys will compete in the RoboCup World Championships again next year – it will take place in Brasil – they answer “if we are lucky, we will.” We will see what the future brings. In any case, the boys hope to score big in the current competition, and for good reason: “If we make the top 5, the teacher said we get to keep this robot!”