Interview with Daniel Müller Team Leader of the Homer Team winners of RoboCup@Home

In this talk

1. 0:04

   Competitions sustain research and student progress

   Müller says competitions give students and researchers a shared goal, which helped the team stay focused while working remotely during the pandemic. They also create opportunities to connect with researchers at other universities and in other countries.

2. 1:50

   Simulation can motivate students and transfer to robots

   Müller explains that seeing code work on a physical robot can motivate students. Simulation feels less connected to everyday lab work, but the team could develop code for TIAGo in simulation and transfer much of it to the real robot through several steps.

3. 3:32

   Homer builds on generations of student work

   Homer’s internship program was at number 37, with a history approaching 18 years. Students from successive generations contribute to an evolving codebase, while team leaders divide work into tasks that newcomers to robotics can take on.

4. 5:30

   Virtual competition kept the event going

   Competing remotely meant Müller could avoid travel, but it made it harder to communicate with other teams and observe their approaches. Telegram and Zoom helped teams stay connected. He hopes simulation improves and remains part of future competitions, potentially reducing travel and event logistics.

5. 8:33

   TIAGo simulation supports the next challenge

   Müller says the supplied TIAGo simulation was straightforward for Homer to install and enabled the team to begin quickly, though he noted minor issues to address. The team planned to apply improved simulation-based manipulation code to the IRIS Mobile Manipulation Challenge, despite having fewer students as internships ended.