Robocup 2014

Credit: Robocup/Mashable

Robocup is an annual soccer competition for robots. Robocup 2014 is on right now (July 21 to 25) in João Pessoa, Brazil.

Long term goal of Robocup is to create a robot soccer team, capable of winning the World Cup, by 2050. Great strides have been made since Robocup began in 1997, but they still have a long way to go.

Competition involves a large number of classifications. While the humanoid classifications look most interesting at first sight, in practice, they are hampered by the simple need to balance on two legs.

Freed of the restrictions of the humanoid classes, mech classes play a faster game, with an apparent understanding of positional play. This is well illustrated in the video below. Audio won't tell you anything if you don't speak Dutch, but video show the robot's apparent understanding of positional play quite clearly.

/ 2014 RoboCup annual robot-soccer robot soccer football competition develop further robotics technology crown RoboCup champion winner World Cup 2050 robot teams human soccer players teams 45 countries this year's competition teams compete different categories robot size construction humanoid fields Kid Teen Adult sizes divisions fewer restrictions design robot look like android anthropomorphic humanoid Humanoid League matches play playing two 10 minute halves hosted in South America Nao humanoid robots began development French robotics company Aldebran Robotics popular platform increase in processor component speeds matches become faster in pace football /