First RoboCup participants presented

The annual football World Cup for robots is coming up again and the first teams have already been presented. For example, multiple champion TeamOsaka showed what kind of robots they want to compete with.

The ultimate goal of the RoboCup is to have a soccer team of autonomously operating, humanoid robots beat the human soccer world champions of that year by 2050. Gradually, scientists hope to learn more about artificial intelligence and robotics. Fortunately, that showdown will have to wait a little longer, because the current robots are not yet very proficient in the game. Still, the moves are pretty smooth and with about 43 years to go until the competition is there, there’s still hope for the robots.

TeamOsaka will send two types of robots to the championship. One team will consist of compact VisiON 4G robots, the other team will be Vstone810 models that are somewhat larger. The VisiON 4G players compete in the child-sized robot class. The Vstone810 models are entered for the heavier class, in which teen-sized robots compete.

Last year, TeamOsaka took first prize with their kid-sized robot, while finishing third in the ‘teen bot’ category. The team also won first prize in two-on-two football, penalty kicks and the technical test. This year, RoboCup will be held from July 1 to 10 in Atlanta, United States. The event has grown into a very diverse championship where it is no longer just about footballing droids. There are now also competitions for, for example, household robots and robots that can be used in rescue operations.