Soccer Robots Compete for 6th Annual RoboCup

(RoboCup Photo Gallery)

Robots of all shapes and sizes kick off in an international soccer tournament this week with nearly 200 teams from 30 nations battling it out in a domed stadium in Fukuoka, Japan—not the World Cup but the 6th annual RoboCup. Some players look like cubes on wheels, others like dogs. And this year, for the first time since the games began in 1997, RoboCup will have a humanoid league with 12 teams from six countries. Some coaches—researchers and academics—are betting that a fully autonomous robot soccer team will outplay the human world champions by 2050.

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But RoboCup does more than demonstrate how androids can put a ball between goal posts. Machines designed to play soccer can also be adapted to handle tasks that would be difficult or dangerous for humans, such as cleaning up nuclear wastes, exploring space, gathering military intelligence, or searching for survivors after disasters. RoboCup also has a robot rescue division—particularly relevant given the use of robots at the World Trade Center site last year. Robots in this league are tested on their abilities to find mannequins trapped inside a three-story building that has collapsed.

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