Robot-sumo

Robot-sumo (Japanese: ロボット相撲), or robo-sumo, is is an engineering and robotics competition in which two robots attempt to push each other out of a circular arena (in a similar fashion to the sport of sumo).The robots used in this competition are called "sumo robots" or "sumobots" or simply "sumos".

Competitions typically involve autonomously operated, wheeled mobile robots. The engineering challenges are for the robot to find its opponent (usually accomplished with infrared or ultra-sonic sensors) and to push it out of the flat arena. A robot should also avoid leaving the arena, usually by means of a sensor that detects the edge . The most common mechanical design is to use an angled blade at the front to lift the opposing robot and push it more easily. Usually tilted at about a 45-degree angle towards the back of the robot, this blade has an adjustable height for different tactics.

Robot-sumo (Mega Sumo) match, in Brazil, between two universitarian teams . Note the robot on the left being lifted by the opponent's angled blade after a direct head-on collision.

Robot-Sumo originated in Japan in 1989 when FUJISOFT Inc. organized the first All Japan Robot Sumo Tournament (Japanese: 全日本ロボット相撲大会). Since then, robot-sumo has spread and has been one of the most popular robotics competitions in the world. Although high-performance competitions, mostly events between universities teams and graduated engineers, require highly complex projects, it is often used as an educational tool for simpler projects in schools..

History

Robot-Sumo began in Japan with the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament organized by FUJISOFT Inc. in 1989, with 33 participants. Since then, this tournament has been held annually in Tokyo. The competition began with an idea from the president of FUJISOFT Inc., Hiroshi Nozawa, whose goal was to promote his company and recruit excellent human resources. But above all, it was because of his desire to give a dream to the younger people who are responsible for the future of his country, and because of the desire to create an environment to improve the quality of "Monozukuri" in Japan . Initially, Robot Sumo only included the class that would be later known as Mega Sumo.

In 1992, the FUJISOFT tournament was held at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan, where the tournament is still held today. In 1998, the tournament had 2,929 participants. That same year, the first Robot-Sumo competition was held outside of Japan, in the United States. In 2004, at the 15th edition of the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament, the tournament introduced the 10kg class, but it would be discontinued in 2007.

Also in 2004, robot-sumo competitions were included in the ROBOlympics (later renamed RoboGames) , one of the largest robotics events at the time. This event helped popularize sumo competitions around the world and led to the creation of categories derived from 3kg class, such as LEGO Sumo, Mini Sumo, among others, which further popularized the category as a whole, leading to the emergence of many competitions around the world, such as in Mexico, Europe, and South America.

In 2008, RoboCore organized the first official national Robot-Sumo tournament in Brazil as part of the national robotics competition Winter Challenge , mainly contested by universitarian teams from the country. In this competition, Sumo 3kg Auto, Sumo 3kg RC and Sumo LEGO classes were held. There were 6 robots in the Sumo 3kg classes.

With this worldwide popularity, in 2008, the first edition of the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament was held with international competitors. Due to its success in the following years, in 2014, the first edition of the International Robot-Sumo Tournament (Japanese: 世界大会) was held, separating the japanese national competition as All Japan (Japanese: 全国大会), with only the japanese champions and runner-ups advancing to the world competition. European teams achieved significant results in the 3kg Auto class, including podiums and titles in the International Robot-Sumo Tournament . In 2017, the last edition of the International Robot-Sumo Tournament was marked by Mexican dominance in the 3kg RC class, taking the first three positions and ahead of the Japanese champions .

In 2018, FUJISOFT reunified the japanese All Japan competition with the International Tournament into a single tournament, as it was before 2014, retaining the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament name and labeling the final stage as the Grand Final in english language . In 2019, the competition was in its 31st edition, and had the participation of more than 20 countries, 104 autonomous robots and 78 radio-controlled robots in the Grand Final . With the competition unified again, robots from Japan once again dominated the top positions of the competition .

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, the 2020 edition (32nd edition) of the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament was cancelled. In 2021 and 2022, FUJISOFT organized an alternative competition for the 32nd and 33rd editions remotely for high school competitors (Japanese: 高校学校, Koukougakkou), which consisted of a sumo robot design contest .

In 2022, RoboCore from Brazil remodeled its main and largest robotics competition (Winter Challenge) into the RoboCore Experience (RCX) , hosting the Mega Sumo, Mini Sumo and LEGO Sumo tournaments in Brazil, in addition to the Combat, Line Follower, Robot Hockey, Robot Trekking, ArtBot and Robot Soccer competitions . The RoboCore Experience was hosted together with Campus Party Brazil in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 editions . The 2023 RCX had 1330 registered competitors and almost 700 robots in all robotics categories.

In 2022, with the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, FUJISOFT once again organized the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament (34th edition), but only for local competitors. That year, the Mini Sumo class was officially introduced in Japan for the first time , which was already widely practiced worldwide. In 2023, All Japan, in its 35th edition, returned qualifying participants from overseas competitions.

Rules

A robot-sumo fight consists of two robots competing to push the opponent out of the arena. The use of mechanisms that physically damage the opposing robot is not permitted. Competitions are usually divided in Autonomous (Auto) category, for robots that operate autonomously, and Radio-controlled (RC) category, for robots operated by a person. The main competitions involve wheeled robots, but there are some separate competitions for humanoid robots .

Matches are typically a series of 3 rounds, with the winner being the one who gets the most round wins. A competition usually consists of (1) Positioning, (2) Preparation, and (3) Fight itself. In Initial Positioning, a judge signals each operator to position each robot at the same time within the competition's permitted positioning limits. The judge then allows each operator to Prepare to select routines and strategies (in the case of the Auto category) or prepare the remote control (in the case of the RC category). To begin the Fight proper, the judge signals the start of the round according to the competition rules, and the winner of the round is the robot that pushes the opponent out of the arena. In the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament, the judge signals the start of the match by announcing "Hakkeyoi nokotta" (はっきよい 残った), which can be imprecisely translated as "Ready? Go!" .

The rules may vary in some details from tournament to tournament (arena specifications, starting positioning, handling of exceptions, ...) especially in tournaments of a more educational nature, held in educational institutions as a didactic activity.

Competitions are usually divided into different weight and size classes. The main standardized adopted classes worldwide are Mega Sumo and Mini Sumo:

Mega Sumo

Mega Sumo Auto fight between 獅子奮迅 (in the left) and Galena from ThundeRatz (in the right) at the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament 2024. Magnets allow robots to move at high speed with high precision and power.

Mega Sumo, also called Standard Class, Sumo 3kg class, or simply Robot-sumo, is the original class from All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament and the most prestigious worldwide. In this class, robots are limited in weight to 3 kg and in dimensions to 20 cm x 20 cm, with no height limit . The dohyō is made of steel and thus allows the use of magnets to increase the interaction force between the robot and the arena. Because of this, many robots can achieve normal force values ​​that surpass 100 kgf .

This class is divided in Sumo 3kg Auto (Autonomous) and Sumo 3kg RC (Radio-controlled).

Mini Sumo

In the Mini Sumo class (also called Sumo 500g class) robots have a weight limit of up to 500 g and are limited to 10 cm x 10 cm, with no height limit. The arena is made of wood, and therefore the robots are not affected by the force of magnets .

Mini Sumo match in Brazil

This class is also divided in Mini Sumo Auto (Autonomous) and Mini Sumo RC (Radio-controlled).

A mini sumo match

Because it is simpler than the 3kg class, it usually has a greater number of competitors and competitions, making it one of the most popular classes in the world. Not an original class from All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament, the class was added to the event as of 2022, officially introducing the class in Japan .

Minor Classes

There are also other standardized classes in competitions around the world, such as those listed below:

• Sumo 10 kg class: up to 10kg, must fit in a 30cm square, no height limit, steel arena. Class hosted between 2004 and 2007 in the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament, but currently discontinued.
• Wood Mega Sumo: up to 3kg, wooden arena.
• Micro Sumo: up to 100 g, must fit in a 5 cm cube, wooden arena.
• Nano Sumo: up to 50 g, must fit in a 2.5 cm cube, wooden arena.
• Pico Sumo: up to 25 g, must fit in a 1.25 cm cube, wooden arena.
• LEGO Sumo: robots must be made entirely of Lego pieces, wooden arena.

A LEGO Sumo match

Regional competitions might host their own classes as well. The National Robotics Challenge, in the USA, hosted the following ones:

• Heavy-weight: standard in the National Robotics Challenge, up to 125 pounds (56.8 kg), must fit in a 2-foot cube (61 cm).
• Light-weight: standard in the National Robotics Challenge, up to 50 pounds (22.7 kg), must fit in a 2-foot cube (61 cm).

Tournaments

Currently, several Robot-Sumo tournaments are held around the world. Robot sumo competitions range from school and educational tournaments within educational institutions to engineering competitions between university students and professionals and graduate engineers. Competitors are usually organized into teams, consisting of sumo robots and the members responsible for their operation and maintenance during the event.

Competitions adopt different competition formats, usually knockout bracket competitions, ranging from single elimination systems to systems with group phases or double elimination.

As for the high level competition, Japan is the world's leading power in this category, and the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament is the most prestigious competition in the world. In Asia, there are also important competitions in China, such as the RobotChallenge , and in Mongolia.

In Europe, countries such as Turkey, Romania and Poland organize the main European competitions, such as the RoboChallenge , focused mainly on autonomous sumo.

In the Americas, the former RoboGames, the largest robotics competition in the world at the time, included several Sumo categories in its program, bringing together international competitors from all over the world. Mexico, one of the world powers in the category, especially in Sumo 3kg RC and Mini-Sumo, hosts several Sumo competitions. In Brazil, RoboCore hosts and sanctions the main robot competitions of the country for Robot Combat and Robot-Sumo. Several competitions in Brazil, mainly RoboCore ones, are also qualifiers for the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament.

Japan

Japan currently hosts the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament, the first robot-sumo competition and the most prestigious tournament in the world.

All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament

The All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament (Japanese: 全日本ロボット相撲大会) was founded in 1989 by FUJISOFT Inc, creating the first Robot Sumo competition. It is the world's premier competition for Mega Sumo, both Auto and RC. Since 2008, it has become the world's leading competition with robots from over 20 countries participating . Since 2022, it has also been hosting Mini-Sumo competitions (Auto and RC) .

For Japanese competitors, the competition is divided into a "Regional Stage" (Japanese: 地区大会) and a "Grand Final" (English: 全国大会). The Regional Stage consists of regional tournaments held between August and October for participants from Japan, with the top performers from each tournament qualifying for the Grand Final.

For international representatives, qualification for the Grand Final is done through international tournaments approved by FUJISOFT, in countries such as Mexico, Turkey and Brazil, for example. The Grand Final is held in December in Tokyo at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan . Both the Regional Stage and Grand Final tournaments currently adopt a single-elimination format.

Brazil

Widely known for robot combat competitions, robot-sumo has attained increasing attention in the country, mainly from teams from the top universities of the country. In Brazil, in particular, robot sumo is hosted in the main robotics competitions of the country for teams of engineering and technology students from institutes at Technical and Higher Education levels, such as University of São Paulo, Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. These competitions are also open to anyone, including graduated engineers and professionals.

RoboCore

RoboCore is one of the main organizers of robotics competitions in Brazil, including in its program competitions of Robot Combat, Line Follower, Robot Trekking and Robot-Sumo, attracting mainly university teams, but also technical education teams.

The Robot-Sumo competitions organized and/or sanctioned by RoboCore are the most prestigious in the country. The classes currently included in its program are Sumo 3kg RC, Sumo 3kg Auto, Mini-Sumo and LEGO Sumo. In addition, there is a separate LEGO Sumo class exclusively for teams formed by elementary and high school students, the LEGO Junior Sumo.

Mega Sumo match from a brazilian RoboCore tournament in 2017.

RoboCore tournaments usually adopt the double-elimination system, in which there is a main bracket (called the "winners bracket") and a secondary bracket of robots transferred after losing a first match in the main bracket, called the "losers bracket". Robots that lose in the losers bracket are eliminated from the tournament. The tournament final consists of the winner of the winners' bracket competing against the remaining winners of the losers' bracket. Robot-Sumo tournaments from RoboCore usually adopt a double final format, in which the robot coming from the losers' bracket must win two matches to become the tournament champion, while the robot coming from the winners' bracket must win only one match. This is due to the principle that for a robot to be eliminated, it must suffer two defeats in the event.

RoboCore competitions are also usually approved by FUJISOFT as qualifiers for the All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament in the Mega Sumo and Mini Sumo classes.

External links

Competitions

• All Japan Robot-Sumo Tournament Most important Robot-sumo competition held in Japan and Worldwide.
• Robowars Annual robotic competition in Montréal, Québec, Canada.
• RoboChallenge Biggest robotics competition held in Bucharest, Romania.
• RoboCore Biggest robotics competition held in Brazil and Latin America. Hosts main Robot-sumo competition in Brazil.
• Competencia Robotica Biggest robotics competition held in Valparaiso, Chile.
• BattleLab Robotica Annual competition in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
• International RoboGames Annual competition with global sumo contestants.
• Istrobot Annual robotic competition in Bratislava held Mini-Sumo category until 2011.
• Milford Autonomous Robotics Competition Annual competition near Cincinnati, OH .
• Robofest BottleSumo Competition.
• RobotChallenge Annual robotic competition in Vienna with Standard-, Mini-, Micro-, Nano-, Lego- and Humanoid-Sumo.
• Official French Tournament.
• Robot sumo Angers Annual French robotic competition in Angers.
• Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Robot-Sumo Competition
• BalticRobotSumo Annual Standard-Sumo, Mini-sumo and Roomba-Sumo robotic competition in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Instead it is lately held annual together with Estonian Robotex and later will be Joined with other Baltic international level national annual competitions Latvijas Robotikas Čempionāts and Lithuanian Robotiada
• Robot-SM The Swedish Robotics Championship with Standard- and mini-sumo.
• SumoRobotLeague Annual North American Sumo Robot tournament with smaller regional tournaments.
• Baronas 2017 National Robotics Competition in Indonesia, Sumo Category 2017
• Robotic Arena Annual robotic international competition held in Poland including Mega-, Mini- and Nano-Sumo, among other competitions.
• Roboton.io Online virtual robot competitions.

Competitors/Teams

• ThundeRatz Robotics team from Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

Other Links

• RobotRoom Tutorial.
• Robot Tutorials for Beginners Tutorial.