2015 RoboCup Soccer World Championships kick off
There are leagues for small-, medium- and human-sized robots, as well as divisions for software coders equipped with the same hardware, and a division that runs football simulations with no hardware at all.
The tournament was first run in 1997 with the eventual goal of finding a robotic team capable of beating their human counterparts. That goal is still some way off.
As you can see from the footage below, there’s a lot of waddling, falling over, and kicking other players rather than the ball. While that sounds like real soccer, they need to practice their falling over to win vital free kicks and penalties.
Skip to 14:50 for what must be the goal of the tournament.
The organisers have ramped up the difficulty for this year’s competition. Astroturf has been added to the playing surface, making it easier for the robots to fall over, while the ball has been painted white, making it harder to see.
It could be a while before the robots beat professional footballers. But we’re sure the teams will continue to improve their bots until that day arrives.
