«Robofootball» Educational program
The Phystech-schools development foundation (PSDF) and the MIPT Starkit team, the 2021 world champion in humanoid robot football, have prepared a new joint educational project, the Robofootball program, which was launched this year with the support of the non-governmental development institute Innopraktika.
Robofootball includes several areas: developing solutions in the field of artificial intelligence, understanding processes in materials science, electronics and robotics. As part of the new program, the PSDF conducts advanced training courses for school teachers in natural sciences, who, after training, will be able to conduct additional classes for schoolchildren in clubs and football among humanoid robots at their educational institutions.
Educational clubs led by teachers trained in the PSDF courses, help schoolchildren get acquainted with the basics of the dynamics of robot movement, computer vision, and simulate football matches in a special program — a simulator.
The format of the courses for teachers consists of two parts: online training and face-to-face sessions at MIPT with the support of mentors (regional colleagues will receive invitations and accommodation at MIPT).
Students learn how to model matches on a special unique platform — a 3D simulator.
Intensive and interesting training is free for selected teachers.
Already at the training stage, teachers will assemble teams of schoolchildren to take part in a competition with each other in the fall. The winners — the best 7 teams in the overall standings — will receive real robot models as prizes to further improve in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics, create new game algorithms and test them on real models. Moreover, with real robots, the children will have the opportunity to participate and win in all-Russian and international competitions in humanoid robotics!
Also, as part of the «Robofootball» competition, the FRFS experts are preparing special original video courses and publishing them in the public domain!
Anyone who starts training and wants to try their hand at robofootball will be able to hone the skills they have acquired in the video lessons by participating in the monthly Robocup Russia ELSIROS Challenge robot football competitions on the WeBots 3D simulator platform.
About the organizers:
The Starkit robot football team was created in the fall of 2018 with the financial support of MIPT graduate and member of the Phystech-Union association Azer Babayev on the basis of the laboratory of wave processes and control systems, which is part of the NTI Artificial Intelligence Center of the MIPT.
«Starkit» is a team of MIPT students and graduates who are passionate about robotics, which has been participating in international competitions of the «RoboCup» league for several years in a row, and last year became the winner of the world championship.
The Robofootball project of the PSDF is being implemented with the support of the non-governmental development institute Innopraktika, whose activities are aimed at increasing national human capital, including through the development of structures and mechanisms of the innovative economy. The company has been operating since 2012 and unites the Center for the National Intellectual Reserve of Moscow State University and the Foundation for the Support of Scientific and Project Activities of Students, Postgraduates, and Young Scientists National Intellectual Development.
