Mercersburg’s Chung is Tops for U.S. in International RoboCup
Jeff Chung ’08 and faculty member and mathematics department head Julia Maurer competed in RoboCup 2007, the world-renowned research robotics competition, in Atlanta for four days in July. More than 2,000 students and faculty from prominent universities, high schools, and middle schools from 39 countries descended upon the Georgia Tech campus to participate in events including soccer, dance, and search and rescue missions using anywhere from miniscule (the size of a fingernail) to life-size robots. "This event is the Olympics of Robotics," Maurer says.

Chung’s team progressed to the international level of competition after qualifying at the U.S. regionals at M.I.T. in May. (Several other Mercersburg competitors placed in the search-and-rescue and soccer categories.) Chung, who was a team of one in Atlanta and one of only three U.S. teams at the event, worked with fellow robotics champions from Brazil, Portugal, China, India, and Mexico engaging in six superteam missions over four days. Despite the language barriers and the intense, 12-hour days, Chung finished first for the U.S. in the search-and-rescue category.

"These robots are programmed to face whatever situation they encounter—it's all very complex," says Maurer. "They can detect color and obstacles, while navigating through the ‘disaster scene,’ maneuvering around sharp turns and climbing steep ramps." Maurer adds that the robots must also communicate when they have found a "victim."

Placing first in search-and-rescue for the United States is an honor for Chung. "Jeff put his heart and soul into this every day that we were there," Maurer says. "I think it was incredible for him to see the best kids in the world doing the exact same thing, competing at an international level."

Maurer looks forward to next year’s national competition and hopes to take a team to RoboCup 2008 in Suzhou, China, which coincides with the Olympics.

RoboCup is an international joint project to promote artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and related fields. It is an attempt to foster AI and intelligent robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can be integrated and examined. A major application of RoboCup technologies is search and rescue in large scale disaster situations. RoboCup initiated the RoboCupRescue project to promote research in socially significant issues. RoboCupRescue includes real robot and simulation leagues.