Sunny OIT & THU: Powering AXS Sim2Real Launch!

Recently, at ICRA 2024, the flagship international conference in the robotics field, the Sim2Real phase of the AgileX Sim2Real (AXS) track of the 3rd Robot Sim2Real Challenge, hosted by the Institute for AI Industry Research, Tsinghua University (AIR), officially kicked off.

AXS is a newly launched track this year, requiring fully autonomous robots to sort and organize tableware in a kitchen environment to earn points. It primarily assesses the performance of programs developed on simulation platforms when deployed in real-world scenarios. Within 15 minutes, participating robots, operating in Sim2Real mode, sort and arrange different tableware into designated areas to gain points, with final rankings determined by total scores.

The official competition consists mainly of two phases. Following the successful conclusion of the simulation phase, the AXS track is set to enter the more challenging Sim2Real phase. After intense competition, a total of 8 teams, including those from Tsinghua University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), stood out and successfully advanced to the next phase. During the simulation phase, each team fully leveraged their strengths, completed multiple challenging tasks, and showcased remarkable achievements.

In the upcoming Sim2Real phase, participating teams will conduct algorithm development and debugging in simulators, submit their code online within the specified timeframe, and official staff will deploy the corresponding code on physical robots of the same model to test their performance. The specific hardware configurations of the physical robots provided for the competition are as follows:

This year, the Sim2Real Challenge features a special offline competition venue set up at the ICRA site, scheduled to be held in Yokohama, Japan, from May 14 to May 16. Participants can personally deploy and debug algorithms on actual robots to complete the competition. This offline event has separate awards, and its scores will not be included in the official competition results. No additional registration is required for participating teams; those that advance to the final phase of the official competition will automatically qualify for the offline event.

We sincerely invite top research teams and robotics enthusiasts from around the world to attend and watch the competition on-site, and jointly witness this grand gathering of technology and innovation.