Interview: RoboTeam

The RoboTeam is one of the student teams of the University of Twente. We went to their homebase in the Future Factory and interviewed them on what being in the team is like.

Can you introduce yourselves, and tell us when and why did you join the RoboTeam?

To: I'm Tom and I've been with the RoboTeam since September. I study Computer Science. I play volleyball, I have a healthy addiction to Netflix, I like to go for walks, I sometimes read a book. Interesting fact, I'm one of those people who studies Computer Science and doesn't necessarily play games. At the RoboTeam I'm busy with the finances, so I'm treasurer, that's one day a week. In addition, I am also a control engineer. I always thought that was just programming, that was a lie, I am very busy with how the robot works internally and how the robot interprets instructions you give it and I do that 40 hours a week.

Th: I am Thijs, Thijs Bink. Outside the RoboTeam, I'm doing a Master's in Embedded Systems and another Master's in Interaction Technology. I've been officially part of the team since September and I basically joined because I wanted to program more AI and apply knowledge. In the end I also discovered that I find it really funny to call companies and have contact with them, so now I am mainly concerned with external relations, acquisition. I do enjoy gaming from time to time, and I'm going to play badminton again tonight. I am involved with jobs and other projects a lot at the university. I still help in the daily board of honours and I do volunteer work for dementia Twente, I'm going there this afternoon.

E: I'm Emy. I am 24 years old, and I study Biomedical Engineering and I am now doing the master of biorobotics and I started last September with the RoboTeam, full time.… I started as a full time control engineer, because I really wanted to improve my skills and put into practice what I learned at university. I was quickly chosen as Team Manager. As a result, I am busy with random jobs as a team manager all week and if I have a few hours free on Thursday I try to be a control engineer together with Tom. In my free time I play guitar and bass guitar. I also play in a band. I also like to go scuba diving in the summer. I am also a member of another foundation with which I organise classical and jazz concerts. On Thursday I also play guitar and bass guitar.

What is the RoboTeam?

E: The RoboTeam is a student team from the UT and Saxion University of Applied Sciences. Like the other teams you know, we are basically the same, only we work on a project and we strive to innovate and inspire in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence. We do this by participating in the robocup, which is an international football competition for autonomous robots, which means that we have 15 in total, who then play 11v11 football on a 12 by 9 metre field, purely on the basis of artificial intelligence, so no joysticks or controller. The fact that students participate in this is really the innovation part, the robocup stands for us to innovate. Each year, each team submits a paper explaining their technical developments. You are also not allowed to participate if you do not innovate. It is a completely open source contest. You can remove all technical information from the other teams and use it for your own robot. The robocup has one overarching goal and that is that by 2050 there will be an autonomous robot soccer team that is able to beat the human world top, which is quite a challenge. And that's why it's open source. So that everyone can constantly innovate, for example by using information from other teams. So, while we are now fighting against each other, we jointly have a goal. I think that's great because you see companies that innovate that keep information to themselves, while if you work together you can achieve so much more.

To: You can now view the other papers, so that you can come up with new things yourself.

E: That is really the innovation part, we also do inspiration, we give workshops, there we use mbots, a different robot than the football robots, which are fairly easy to program. Either in C or based on block programming. With that we go to partners or schools to give our workshops there to inspire others about robotics and programming. It's really a bit of a taste of the corporate world, but you're a student so you're allowed to make a mistake and you're with super nice people in the office. Certainly also being in the future factory with the other teams is a lot of fun.

What does a regular day look like for you and Is there anything in particular you like to do?

Th: As a part-timer, it is incredibly fun to be busy with many things at the same time. You can make it as crazy as you want, I also take courses, so I have to switch a lot between what I do here and my own courses, but I like that. I like to be busy. No day is the same. There are so many things you can do if you are motivated enough, in all kinds of different fields. It can range from being present at a trade fair or visiting companies to being really busy developing the robot. The craziest people come here from indigenous tribes from the Brazilian rainforest to the penguin band. So what does a typical day look like, I'd like to say there isn't really any. Maybe there is if you are in a certain direction or certain sub-team, but you can make it as crazy as you want.

E: A common thread running through every day, which may sound cringe, is simply fun. Every day there is a stupid story to tell, about something we did ourselves in our free time, or about a very strange email that comes in. So it's always fun.

To: It is very nice to see what kind of people external companies think we are. For example, we are at a trade fair and people ask if they can buy a robot. But what is also nice is that you are together with all kinds of teams. Then you are actually busy, and then someone from the green team, for example, comes in to ask what we are doing. As a full-time worker, you are mainly concerned with helping other people and you mainly outsource your tasks.

Th: A day usually starts with coffee. To: That's very important, we sometimes try to do a stand-up to tell eachother what we're doing. We've also had plank meetings, then you plank with everyone and you have very quick meetings.

E: Thijs talked about how he really likes having courses next to it. Personally, I like to really focus on one thing, the RoboTeam, but within that I do a lot of different things. Every week I meet with other team managers to ask what they are doing and what needs to be done for the Future Factory. This is to promote cooperation between the teams. I have a meeting with Tom about control, Thijs updates me about companies. I am also working on checking whether the technical planning needs to be updated. Either companies drop by to chat, or I have an interview with Abacus. So every day is different. I really like that despite the many different tasks, I do that for one thing, the RoboTeam.

What is until now your biggest achievement?

To: A recent thing is, each year you have to qualify for the robocup. One of the things you have to do to qualify is write a paper, so that other teams can learn what you did. A week ago we handed in that paper and made a video, which was really fun to do.

Another thing is being at the Jaarbeurs, where you can tell everyone what you are doing. Then it was fun to give someone the controller of a robot. You see then that children will drive really fast, but when giving the controller to their parents you see them struggle with driving. It is really fun to see how enthusiastic other people get from a robot.

E: We just started a month prior when we received an email from a company who had a stand at the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht, and they wanted us to stand with them. Without any experience Thijs had to negoti- ate how much money we would get. Next they said, we were allowed to stand with them, but they wore a certain type of shoe of which we got four pairs. We were going to be there for 3 or 4 days, so we had to choose people based on their shoe size.

Th: We literally made a schedule based on shoe sizes.

E: Suddenly we had to arrange transport, think about what to bring and if we had a working robot. We had to really sell the RoboTeam. Officially we started on September 5th and on the 13th we were already in the Jaarbeurs.

Th: A month later we were there again, because another company noticed that we were standing with that first company and then we were asked if we wanted to be at this other fair. We then had to arrange transport, accommodation and everything again, which was very cool to be there. Then we also had to give a presentation. If we talk about my biggest achievement, it is that I talk to an incredible amount of specialised companies. The motors in the robot are made by the company that also makes the motors for ASML's chip machines, and a lot of companies are focused on future-oriented solutions, and they really enjoy helping us and interacting with students. That's millions of companies coming by here at the office to talk to us about robots.

E: At that point you realise how much you’re worth.

Is there anything you try to do that makes you stand out from the competition?

To: We are really a student team.

In principle there are only student teams who participate, but you notice that a lot of teams are researchers. For instance with German teams, it is really the professors who come up with everything and the students carry it out. With us it really is the students who do everything and we think of everything, and every now and then we ask a professor for their opinion.

What sets us also apart is the collaboration with other teams, which hasn't been the case for very long.

To: I think the advantage of this is that you get new ideas all the time. The first three months we were just learning things, now we are really doing new things. Because you have new people all the time, you have new ideas all the time and I think that helps with innovation.

E: If it's really purely about the robot, they have good wheels. We are very good at ball-placement, when the ball is out of the field or a goal has been scored they have to put the ball back on the spot. Our ro- bots are very neat and put the ball kindly where it should be. In other teams, the robots are a lot more aggressive.

We have been in this building together for almost two years, before that it was more spread out over the campus. Now that you have the collaboration, you also learn a lot together and from each other. And when you talk about open source, we are also further ahead than other teams. We also have our own wiki, where a lot of technical data is clearly explained, instead of just putting the code online somewhere.

E: What is also different is that we change every year. Which is often not the case with other teams. It does make it a very hectic year, which creates a bond.

You are currently participating in the small cup, what makes it different from the others and are you planning to expand your scope?

Th: The robocup is an umbrella competition for robot tournaments, but within robot football you have people in the small size league, you have the midsize league that are fewer robots but bigger and more onboard processing. Then you have the humanoid league, which are human robots that resemble those care robots that involve more mechanical aspects. You also have a standard platform where everyone gets the same robot and then it is about applying the software to the robot and you have simulation that is purely digital. So within robot football you have different competitions that all have a different goal. Within small, you see that a lot is possible and it is mainly the focus on a good AI, but all that within a very small size. It has to fit within a certain cylinder, so you also have to make design choices; if you add an extra wheel, you may have to remove an on-board camera. There are certainly plans to expand to other leagues in more years. What's interesting is that all leagues are working together with the overarching goal of beating the World Cup winner in 2050 with a RoboTeam. Besides the robocup there are also other leagues with a focus on the industry, with focus on the smart home and on healthcare.

To: That's all in the robocup, so it's a big competition. There have been plans to expand to an extra team, because it would be a shame if you were only doing optimisation in the end. Since the knowledge you learn at university stops at some point.

E: We are the 7th generation of the RoboTeam. And we do notice that we are optimising the robot and there is no major innovation anymore. We are looking at whether we can switch to another competition or participate in another competition, so that we can innovate again.

To: You can see that we have innovated in the mechanical area, but there is still a lot to do in terms of software. This year we are working on a simulator for machine learning. We always say we have an AI, but at the moment it is an algori- thm, which we now want to optimise using machine learning. To see if machine learning makes different choices.

What is your current goal?

E : To qualify, of course, we have handed in our paper and we will receive the results on March 7th. The team finished third last year. Since each year the team has finished higher and higher, our goal now is to become third or higher.

Th: We also participate in the Schubert Open, which is in Germany and because we are so close to the border, we can also participate in it and that competition is already at the end of March, the beginning of April where we can already test our innovations. Then we have a small window to adapt, and then meet the same teams that are participating again at the robocup. I think that's a very interesting schedule this year. It is very cool to participate in a real competition. And one of the goals is to perform well there and then to improve as much as possible.

E: Another goal is to become the founding fathers for another league in a few years, that the basics are there for that.

To: A pleasant environment is also very important.

E: For sure, it's a student team, so it's all very hectic. I don't think there are so many burnouts in a student team as anywhere else. So it is very important to look out for each other. That everyone feels good and is having a good time.

Why does someone reading this need to join the RoboTeam?

E: Why not?

To: Finally applying something. People are familiar with project based learning, only a project takes 10 weeks and you start from scratch and then you build something. You come here and seven years of work has been done, so you can't start over, you just have to move on, you have to adapt to what other people have done and so first learn the things they did and then do a bit, but in such a way a way that others can also continue with it. That is very nice, it therefore looks like real work, you do have a different situation in which you are, it is a big project.

And if you enjoy working with other people, also from other studies, that's also great fun. I did computer science myself, Thijs did BIT and Emy did BMT, but you also see people from other studies. That's great fun, you work a lot with people who know very well what they are doing, and then you can learn a lot from each other. On Sunday we will receive a 3D printing workshop from one of our mechanical engineers. Because we have two very nice machines here, Thijs knows how it works. I think I can 3D print, but I don't trust myself. We all learn that from each other, we have also given each other a workshop on how to actually program. Then you can learn from each other how to do it right.

E: It is a unique experience, you learn so much that you will not learn in the college courses. You get to places you would otherwise never get to. You speak to people you would otherwise never speak to. You are in the Jaarbeurs twice a year, soon we will go to Breda, to Helmond, to Antwerp and we will go to Germany for the competition. So we travel pretty much all over Europe in a manner of speaking. We just had an indigenous leader from the Amazon region. You also learn a lot by doing. You are pulled out of your comfort zone, so first you also have a kind of imposter syndrome. But you learn to get rid of that and have faith in yourself. You learn what you can do and you receive appreciation for it from the team. It also looks good on your CV.

Th: It certainly looks good on your CV. You come into contact with a lot of companies and see if that is something for later. Chances are if you are interested in something, that there is a company that fits, where you can learn more and get in close contact with. If you want to work on a robot with motivated students for a year, it's a very cool problem, a very cool piece of technology with very cool companies and very cool and fun people, you have to do the RoboTeam!

E: Specifically the RoboTeam, I think it's a really fun project. A lot of fun areas come together and you have several robots that you work on as a team, so you are not all standing around a single robot and you all have your own robot that you can work on. And certainly the AI aspect makes us unique compared to the other teams.

To : What for maths students is really fun. With AI it is a big optimization problem. A very important thing is Ball planning and that is just mathematical algorithms based on acceleration. Today we have the Bézier curve (ALL TOGETHER: trajectory, piecewise) Bang Bang trajectories.

To: There have been written a lot of papers about that which we are now implementing. It is very nice to be working on that and for mathematicians it is also very nice that if you are at Abacus you can also be part of a student team.

E: We are also a cosy team, where the other student teams are a lot firmer. We are a bit fluffy.

To: You notice that we participate in a competition, but we are not really competitive.

E: We do want to win!

To: We want to win, but it's in a relaxed way. Also because everything is open source.

How do you contact teachers?

To: Well, you just call in advance and then you just sit down at their office. That's the nice thing about Twente, everything is actually very open and you can just walk into people's offices.

Th : The team is for students and by students, that is our strength and that of the UT. If we need support, we look for the people, you always hear through the grapevine where you can find something. This is possible for students, teachers, at the UT, Saxion and companies.

E: It's always nice to be able to fact check.

Do you have any final remarks?

To: Like and subscribe to us on Instagram, Twitter, Github and Youtube.

Th: Follow us at the robocup on Youtube, which is from 4 to 9 July. We will probably also live stream all matches. You can also find us on the site: www.RoboTeamtwente.nl.

E: Physically, we are in the future factory. We will soon also have a few fun recruitment events, without obligation and if you want to know more about the RoboTeam. For example, on April 19 there is a drink in the evening at our place. We think it is very important that there will be a team again next year. You can also send an email to info@RoboTeamtwente.nl.

To: You can always come by, if you want to do a minor you can also come to us. We also sometimes have assignments, so there are also things you can do temporarily for the RoboTeam.

E: In the months of March and April, we are also handing out flyers around the campus.