IEEE Robotics and Automation Society
               Central New England Chapter

                Tuesday, October 14, 2003
               Informal Discussion: 6:00 PM
                     Program: 6:30 PM


   RoboCup: Mechatronic Systems in a Robot Soccer Team

                       presented by

                     Ton Peijnenburg
                       Group Leader
         Philips Center for Industrial Technology


                         ABSTRACT

A substantial part of Philips Center for Industrial Technology
(Philips CFT), comprising approximately 500 people, is devoted to
mechatronic systems for fast and accurate positioning. The most
appealing examples in this field are probably the so-called wafer
scanners, in which substrates for semiconductor manufacturing move at
speeds of up to 2 m/s whilst maintaining position accuracies down to a
nanometer. Other equipment that Philips CFT currently works on
includes stages for large area substrates in the manufacturing of
flat-panel displays, wire- and die-bonders, SMD placement equipment,
electron microscopes, as well as medical diagnostic equipment.

At the end of 1999, Philips CFT decided to get involved in RoboCup,
more precisely in the Middle Size League (also known as the
Engineering League). The most important reason was to gain experience
with design paradigms from the AI domain. Nearly three years after the
project was initiated, approximately 30 engineers are voluntarily
involved in it on a regular basis. Our team has participated in two
European and two World RoboCup Championships, fighting to become the
European Champion in 2002 and 2003.

The lecture will illustrate our approach to designing mechatronic
equipment for the robot soccer challenge, focusing on the design and
control of the motion engine, the kicking device and the machine
vision system. Without question, our approach is much different from
the one that most university teams have chosen, but provides some
interesting viewpoints in relation to what one could call an
"engineered" design. Systems with noisy sensors and actuators are
extremely difficult to control towards a certain objective, even with
more advanced intelligent control; reducing noise then is the obvious
choice.

For more information on our team and the RoboCup initiative see
https://www.quick.philips.com/robocup.


                     SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

After finishing university, Mr. Peijnenburg started as an
electromechanical engineer at Philips Center for Industrial Technology
(Philips CFT) in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, designing linear
actuators for highly accurate equipment, such as wafer steppers and
optical pick-up units for CD and CD-ROM. He was also involved in
modeling and calibration of industrial manipulators (1992-1995). He
then led the pre-development of two highly accurate positioning stage
modules for one of Philips CFT's key customers (1995-1999), after
which he created a Systems Engineering (SE) group.  That group adopted
certain elements of the SE way of working to handle the growing
complexity of mechatronic systems that are developed at Philips CFT
(2000-2002). Currently, he manages a mechatronic systems group with a
Philips CFT branch in Sunnyvale, CA. Mr. Peijnenburg holds a MS in
Electrical Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology
(The Netherlands).


                   MEETING INFORMATION

The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society will meet on Tuesday, October
14, 2003, at Wellesley High School at 6:00 PM for informal discussions
and for the formal presentation between 6:30 and 7:30 PM. The group
will have a no-host dinner afterwards at Bertucci's, where more
conversations can take place with the guest speaker.  The meetings are
open to the general public, and all are welcome at the dinner
afterwards.

For more information, contact Rich Maynard at
chair@robotics-boston.org or write to the Chapter's general email
address: info@robotics-boston.org


                        DIRECTIONS

From Route 128, take either Route 9 or Route 16 west. From the
junction of Routes 9 and 16, follow Route 16 (Washington Street) west
past the Wellesley Hills commuter rail station (within walking
distance of the school), then turn left onto Rice Street. Wellesley
High School is on the left. Parking is available in a lot just beyond
the school.

For a web map showing the location of Wellesley High School, go to the
Yahoo map site at http://maps.yahoo.com/ and enter the following
information in the indicated locations:

    Address: 50 Rice St
    City, State or ZIP: Wellesley, MA

The star marker is misplaced slightly to the south. Imagine it about 1
cm toward the top of the map at Rice St.

For more information about our Section and Chapter, visit our web site
at our registered domain URL

             http://www.robotics-boston.org/