Universiti Malaya has been honoured to host the first RoboCup Malaysia Open 2024. The RoboCup Malaysia Open 2024 marks a historical landmark for the country and it is the first RoboCup edition in Malaysia where our local talents can measure their AI Robotics skills and knowledge at the international level. The competition offers two leagues, the Major and Junior leagues.
RoboCup Malaysia Open 2024 Major leagues will focus on AI Robotics services @Home looking into intelligent robot servicing in domestic setup. Three categories of the Major Leagues include the @Home OPL, @Home Education, and @Home Simulation. The Junior Leagues are open for 19 years of age and under to participate. The Junior Leagues offer Soccer, Rescue, and OnStage robot performances.
RoboCup is a popular annual robotic competition in the world, first held in 1996 by a group of university professors wanting to promote AI and robotics research to the public. The name RoboCup is an abbreviation of Robot World Cup inspired by the dream to have a robotic team that can beat the FIFA World Cup's champion at a football game by 2050. Since then, the RoboCup competition has become the benchmark for academic AI Robotics research.
Each year, the RoboCup Federation hosts a worldwide competition and conference. For example, in 2023 RoboCup is being held in Bordeaux, France. Regional RoboCup Opens take place annually in various locations around the world and are excellent opportunities to prepare for the worldwide RoboCup competition. In 2023, the Malaysia AI Robotic Society (MARS) applied to the RoboCup Federation and earned the rights to organize RoboCup events at a regional level; the RoboCup Malaysia Open 2024 is birthed.
Keeping the academic spirit of RoboCup, MARS established a local organizing committee (LOC) consisting of members from various public and private institutions such as UKM, UPM, UniMAP, UTAR, UNIMY, UM, UTeM, UTM, UTHM, UCSI, and others.
The Junior Leagues offer Soccer, Rescue, and OnStage robot performances. One unique feature of the RoboCup competition is it ends with a symposium: celebrating the hard work of the competitors providing their academic solutions in advancing AI Robotics research. Often time a RoboCup event leads to the publication of book chapters or lecture notes series after the competition ends.
To promote the competition nationwide, the LOC is organizing the RoboCup Malaysia Open 2024 Kick-Off Event on March 19 (2.30 PM) at Dewan Perdana 1, Kompleks Perdana Siswa, UM. The Kick-Off Event will also launch the RoboCup Malaysia Open 2024 Outreach Programme to be held in May at the Central (UM), Northern (UniMAP) and Southern (UTHM) regions. The May Outreach Program consists of AI Robotics workshops and training to entice and groom passionate local talents for the main event in September. All are welcome!
The RoboCup Malaysia Open 2024 invites participation from all over the world to foster connection, interaction, networking, and knowledge exchange across borders via the RoboCup platform. By hosting the first RoboCup competition in Malaysia, we will be officially recognized as a member of the RoboCup international community. A way forward in recognizing Malaysia’s relentless effort to pursue the AI Robotics agenda for the country.