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Top1. Introduction
Robot soccer is a challenging platform for multi-agent research that involves topics such as real-time image processing and control. Robot soccer was introduced in 1994 with a theoretical background to develop multi-robot adaptive, co-operative and autonomous systems that can solve common tasks (Kim & Shim 1997). Furthermore robot soccer is a rich domain for the study of learning issues (Kim, Lee, & Fukuda, 1997).
Each team of robots must work together to put the ball in the opponent’s goal while at the same time defending their own goal, and the team must be able to adapt to new situations and the behavior of various opponents (Pratomo et al., 2010). Additionally, they must learn to work together autonomously and cooperatively (Han, Lee, Moon, Lee, & Kim, 2002; Kim, Hwang, & Kwon, 2003; Wang, Liu, Li, & Yang, 2010; Pratomo et al., 2011). Moreover, the robots also must interact and self-organize autonomously to achieve a common goal (Liu, Liang, & Lin, 2004). Apart from cooperative and coordinated behavior, further technical aspects such as precision of movement and optimization of power efficiency must also be taken into account because robot soccer is well-known as a miniaturization of a complex electro-mechanical system (Prabuwono, Burhanudin, & Said, 2008; Hwang, Tan, & Chen, 2004).
The robots can learn any collaborative or adversarial techniques; however, they must first acquire some low‐level skills that allow them to manipulate the ball (Pozna, Troester, Precup, Tar, & Preitl, 2009). These low‐level skills, for example, dribbling and controlling the ball, though entirely individual in nature, are crucial to develop because these skills are involved in more collaborative tasks, such as sending and receiving passes. In relation to the rich and dynamic nature of the environment in soccer (Zabawi & Omar, 2011), it is either impractical or impossible to directly program the robots to play soccer. Therefore, much of the focus has been shifted to treating the robots as intelligent agents that can learn how to play soccer under different environments and conditions (Hwang et al., 2006; Zhao, Zhang, Wei-Jie, & Li, 2006).
Based on Figure 1, the formation of various strategies that can be used in a robot soccer game depends on the pattern of the game and the types of players. The game pattern that focuses solely on location coordinates will produce a centralized game that is focused on the direction of the ball movement (Plyne et al., 2008; Xiao-Jun et al., 2006). Every robot plays different roles at different locations.
Figure 1. Robot soccer formation modified (Kim & Shim, 1997; Kim et al., 1997, 2003)