1. The First FIRA Korea-Cup Competition

The FIRA Korea Chapter (KRSA: Korea Robot Soccer Association) became
a corporate aggregate belonging to the Ministry of Science and
Technology in Korea trough the related legal formalities.

The first FIRA Korea-Cup was held in Seoul Olympic Weight-lifting
Gymnasium from November 30 to December 1, 1999, to commemorate the
establishment of KRSA. Competitions were held in three main Leagues;
high school League, University K League (for the teams with high marks),

University R League (for the newly organized teams). The winners in
respective leagues are, The team Ropert, Seoul Science High school,
The team Kinggo (SungKyunKwan Univ.) and Power Supply 2 (Youngnam
Univ.).

The FIRA Korea Cup will be held every year to consolidate Robot soccer
competitions in Korea.



2. The first China National Robot Soccer Tournament

The first China National robot soccer competition was held in Harbin,
China, from November 24 to 26, 1999.

The FIRA China Robot Soccer Association (CRSA) has organized the
first invitation Competition in Beijing from July 30 to 31, 1999
successfully prior to the National Match.

CRSA invited its honorary President, Jong-Hwan Kim, (KAIST) and other
FIRA officials. Discussions were held to work out on mutual
cooperation, and FIRA approved Science and Technology Museum in
Beijing, China as the venue of FIRA Robot World Cup 2001.


3. The second Workshop on Soccer Robotics at KAIST, Korea.

The second Workshop on Soccer Robotics was held on November 20 at the
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Taejon,
Korea. It gave an arena for young researchers and scientists working
in the area of Robotics, image processing, AI computer technology,
sensor technology, etc., to share their research experiences related
to Soccer Robotics.

After the paper presentation, a special session was arranged for Robot
soccer teams and clubs in different Universities to exchange and share
their views and activities among themselves.

An orientation program was held in the afternoon for the participants
of the first FIRA Korea-Cup Competition.



4. FIRA IROS'99 Exhibition

FIRA participated in the IROS'99 conference as an exhibitor.
The exhibition was held at the Convention Hall in Kyongju Hyundai
Hotel.

FIRA managed the Booth from 09:00 to 18:00 during October 18 - 20.
Demonstration matches were arranged between the winners of the
FIRA Robot World Cup Brazil'99.



5. The scene of FIRA Robot World Cup Brazil'99

The site provides e-mail
groups to share photographs among the participants of FIRA Brazil'99.

The FIRA'99 Highlight videotape is under preparation. It is expected
to be ready in the near future and the availability of the videotape
will be made known as soon as it come out.

For more detail, please contact Dr. Marcel Bergerman
, who was the Organizing Co-chair of FIRA
Brazil'99.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
THE FEDERATION OF INTERNATIONAL ROBOT-SOCCER ASSOCIATION
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor-in-Chief: Jong-Hwan Kim

Associate Editors:
Prahlad Vadakkepat Chao Cheng Holger Haas
Jeffrey Johnson Krzysztof R. Kozlowski Amitabha Mukerjee
Luca Odetti Victor Romano Castillo Toledo
Andon Topalov Jing Wang Gourab Sen Gupta

Editorial Staffs: Jin-Ah Lee Hye-Young Park

Dept. of Electrical Engineering, KAIST,
373-1 Kusong-dong, Yusong-gu,
Taejon 305-701, Korea.
Tel: 42-869-3448, 8727, 8728
Fax: 42-869-8729
E-mail: fira@fira.net
http://www.fira.net * http://www.iroc.org
============================================================

[December 10, 1999]