Virtual Robots RoboCupRescue Competition: Contributions to Infrastructure and Science

The Virtual Robots (VR) competition using the USARSim simulator began in 2006 in Bremen as a parallel activity of teams actively competing in Rescue Robot competitions. The competition has benefited the robotics research community by accelerating the development of and maintaining research infrastructure (USARSim) and by focusing competitions on issues meaningful to research including multirobot control and mapping. Research users of the simulation are evenly divided between those who do and those who do not participate in the competition, demonstrating that its benefits have not been limited to an overly narrow problem or “playing to the rules.”