1. The New Homepage for FIRANET - ()

The FIRANET homepage is updated and given a new shape with more
information. Your valuable comments on the same are welcome.


2. New FIRA office bearers.

After the introduction of MiroSot (Micro-Robot Soccer Tournament)
in 1995, FIRA has been organizing international robot soccer
competitions (FIRA Robot World Cup) and related symposia around
the world to propagate the spirit of science and technology to
the young generation. As FIRA prepares itself ready for the new
Millennium, it is required to reshuffle the offices, and positions
of the FIRA office bearers to face the new challenges that are
awaiting FIRA.

FIRA places on record the contributions and support received
from each and every one of you. The ex-office bearers have
done an excellent work and without their continued support and
encouragement FIRA would not have reached the status it currently
has. FIRA hope to receive your continued support in the coming
years to fulfill its objectives.

The new office bearers of FIRA are as follows:
- President: Kim, Jong-Hwan, Korea
- Vice-Presidents:
Hong, Bing-Rong, China
Kopacek, Peter, Austria
Paul Robinson, UK
Roberto Tavares, Brazil
- General Secretary: Prahlad Vadakkepat, Singapore
- Treasurer: Wayne T. Cho, Korea

For more details, please visit the FIRANET ()


3. FIRA Robot World Cup Australia 2000.

The FIRA Robot World Cup 2000 will be held in Australia, at
Rockhampton, between September 18 and 24, 2000, along with
the Summer Olympics.

For further details please contact:
Prof. Russel Stonier (stonier@knuth.cqu.edu.au)
Prof. Prahlad Vadakkepat (prahlad@nus.edu.sg)



4. FIRA European Cup Poland 2000

The FIRA European Cup 2000 will be held in Poland, Poznan from May 22
to May 26 2000. Teams from Germany, Austria, England, Poland
will participate.

For further details please contact the organizing chair,
Prof. K.Kozlowski (kk@ar-kari.put.poznan.pl)


5. FIRA Asia-Pacific Cup Singapore 2000 and the International

The FIRA Asia-Pacific Cup 2000 will be held in Singapore along
with the Singapore Robotic Games from May 23 to 26. Teams from
China, India, Korea, Philippines and Singapore will participate.
An International Symposium on Autonomous Robots and Agents
(ISARA’2000) will be held on May 26 along with. The FIRA President,
Prof. Kim, Jong-Hwan, of the Korean Advanced Institute of Science
and Technology (KAIST) will give a key note speech on Micro-Robots
for Education and Entertainment, at the Symposium.

For further details please contact the organizing chair,
Prof. Prahlad Vadakkepat (prahlad@nus.edu.sg).
For the event details, please visit




6. FIRA Poster session at the IEEE ICRA’2000, San Francisco.

IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Education Committee, has
invited the FIRA president, Prof. Kim, Jong-Hwan and his student
robotics teams to present a poster at the 2000 International
Conference on Robotics and Automation, April 23-28, 2000, in
San Francisco.


7. FIRA’99 Proceedings.

The long awaited FIRA Robot World Cup France 1999 Proceedings is
now available. For a copy of the same, please contact the FIRA
headquarters .


8. Memorandum of Agreement among FIRA, the Amkor Technology

A memorandum of agreement was signed between Amkor Technology
Philippines (ATP) and the De La Salle University (DLSU), Philippines,
for financial support of two participating Filipino researchers
during the Federation of International Robot Soccer Association
(FIRA) Technical Training Program in Korea January 11-25, 2000.
The training, signed by ATP president Antonio Ng and DLSU president
Rolando Dizon, will be held at the Korea Advanced Institute of
Science and Technology (KAIST) in South Korea.

The training, which will be participated in by researchers from
the University of the Philippines and the DLSU, includes
lectures on robotics and related fields, particularly the
development of software algorithms on artificial intelligence.

The project aims to attract more Filipino manpower in the fields
of information technology, electronics engineering and other related
courses as Filipino students may be enticed with robot system
development, particularly an exciting and entertaining soccer
robot competition.



9. MiroSot friendly match between UK and Germany in London.

n March 7, 2000, an informal MiroSot match was played in London
between three UK teams and one from Germany. The Plymouth team was
the winner. These matches will be shown on British TV in a couple
of week’s time.


10. Establishment of Miro-Robot Design Education Center (MRDEC) in Korea.

A Micro-Robot Design Education Center (MRDEC) will be established
at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in
May 2000. Prof. Jong-Hwan Kim, President of FIRA is designated as
the director of MRDEC. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy
of the Republic of Korea has approved the set up at KAIST.

MRDEC is planning to offer the various kinds of lectures and refresh
courses for University students and company researchers on robot
soccer systems and associated areas of research namely: computer
vision, sensor fusion, control, Artificial Intelligence, communications
and Networks, multi-agent system, computer technology and software.

Besides, MRDEC will closely interact with FIRA to help new robot soccer
teams.

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THE FEDERATION OF INTERNATIONAL ROBOT-SOCCER ASSOCIATION
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editor-in-Chief - Jong-Hwan Kim, KAIST, Korea
Editor - Prahlad Vadakkepat, NUS, Singapore

Editorial Staffs: Jin-Ah Lee and Hye-Young Park (KAIST, Korea)

FIRA Head-Quarters
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
================================================================

[April 15, 2000]
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http://fira.net/?document_srl=1746
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