I was lucky that in my high school we had a Robotics Group led by a passionate physics and math teacher. For me it was an awesome experience which defined the last four years of my time in high school.
As a team we participated in the RoboCup Junior Soccer competition, starting with simple LEGO NXTs in 2007 and finally becoming German Champions in 2011 with highly sophisticated custom machines. Below are some pictures which show the evolution of our project. We built robots that played 2vs2 soccer on a table sized playing field.
Starting with LEGO NXT in 2008
First World Championship in 2008 in China
Robots in 2010
Self-designed PCB in 2011
Robot base plate in 2011
Winning team in 2011
The ball emits infrared light which is detected through light sensitive sensors around the robot. Furthermore our last machines had four ultrasonic range finders, one magnetic compass, four brushed encoded DC gear motors with omniwheels and two solenoids to kick the ball. Their weight was around two kilograms with a construction made of aluminum and carbon fiber.
One of the highlights was the world championship in Turkey 2011. We qualified for this event after becoming the German champions in this year.