On July 16, HERoEHS - Robot Soccer Team of Hanyang University (HYU) - came in a close second in the 2022 Robot Soccer World Cup. The team, led by Professor Han Jae-kwon, participated in the '2022 Humanoid Adultsize League," being the first Korean team to compete in the semi-finals. The RoboCup is a "Robot Soccer League" played by robots with legs similar to humans, who dribble, pass and shoot like soccer players. Competing teams develop a control program, and have robots judge situations and make decisions during the game, without any guidance from the programmers. This year's RoboCup World Championship was held in Bangkok, Thailand, with a total of 4 teams competing. HERoEHS' robot Alice, won against the UCLA team, RoMeLa, which was led by Dennis Hong, a professor a past mentor of Professor Han. Regarding this meaningful match, professor Han said, "It wasn't easy competing with a team led by my past mentor, consisting of team researchers who call me sunbae. Nonetheless, winning a match against a team from such a notorious university helped our team members gain confidence about their skills and research."
In the semi-finals, HERoEHS went against NimbRo from Germany, a team well-known for their exceptional skills and who won all preliminary matches with a score difference of more than 10 points per match. Despite the defeat, Alice was able to score a goal and both teams happily congratulated each other after the match.
The HERoEHS team went through precise and thorough measures to prepare for the big match. "Students from different majors participated and contributed in creating the robot, Alice. The key to building a robot is teamwork. All members must do their part and collaborate with each other. I think this collaboration was what led our team to these never-before results," explained professor Han.
Professor Han believes that robots will be deeply woven in our lives in the near future. As young adults, it is our responsibility to take interest in future technology and ponder on how robots will be used in the future. "Being a university student is the perfect time to try new things. Students should use this valuable time to widen their experiences, not only in their field but other areas as well."
