Gizmodo: robocup

Robocup 2008 Droids Cooperate Like Real Soccer Team, With Fewer Hissy Fits

Kit Eaton — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:22:00 EDT

Miniature humanoid robots are getting more impressive by the day: this video shows the Darmstadt Dribblers team in action in the recent 2008 Robocup. And if you notice, they're really playing like proper autonomous soccer teams. It's the first year that three-on-three playing action has happened, and thus required some nifty role negotiation and info exchange over Wi-Fi. That's in addition to avoiding obstacles, finding the ball visually and trying to score goals. Okay, so that opposing team needs a better goalie, but at least watching this robotic version of the beautiful game means you get to see less diving and hissy fits at the referee. Impressive stuff, no? [YouTube.—Thanks Stefan]

RoboCup Rescue: A Rubble Hellscape With Screaming, Wriggling Dolls

Wilson Rothman — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:00:01 EDT

The RoboCup soccer tourney gets all the publicity, but the RoboCup Rescue competition kicking off this week in Germany is thrilling in a more macabre way: Each year the rubble-strewn maze gets more and more complicated, as robots use AI and all their mechanical faculties to locate (though not necessarily recover) dolls that scream, wriggle and emit carbon dioxide and heat.

"The robots are the mouse and the dolls are the cheese," US National Institute of Standards and Technology's Adam Jacoff (heh heh, sorry dude) told the New Scientist. Points go for the speediest contender, as well as the one who can best draw a map of the maze. We doubt you'll see this clawed beast, or this backhoe-like behemoth, but the bots in the video seem well enough equipped to deal with the grim realities they face. [NewScientist via KurzweilAI.net]

RoboCup 2007 Underway in Atlanta, Humanoid Bots Clash for World Title

Charlie White — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 08:44:27 EDT

Although these bots have a long way to go before they're able to beat a human team of soccer players, the RoboCup organizers say their goal is to have a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can beat the world champion soccer team by 2050, so they have plenty of time to practice. Meanwhile, the annual world championship, RoboCup 2007, is underway in Atlanta, and here's some action from the preliminary game between the Darmstadt Dribblers and CIT/H.

The robots compete in a variety of categories, with the small ones (that look more like hockey pucks than bots) limited to a size of 180mm in diameter and no higher than 15cm, and there's also a medium-sized league, and a four-legged league of Aibo-style bots that operate fully autonomously with no human interaction or external control. They are arranged in teams of four, playing on a 6m x 4m field.

These humanoid bots are divided into two classes, kid size (30-60cm in height) and teen size 80-130cm), and they have human-like senses and can run after the ball, kick it, and make their own decisions. So far, they look pretty lame, and remind us of small children just learning how to play soccer with their parents setting up all the shots. But if you consider what they're actually doing, it's downright remarkable. Check out the little goalie making a save.

RoboCup World Championship [RoboCup 2007 Atlanta]

Robocup: For Eggs, Not Robot Testicles

Mark Wilson — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 18:00:37 EDT

The $12 Robocup is guaranteed to "take eating a boiled egg to another dimension." Please hold on a sec. With a pitch like that I need to buy the Robocup ASAP.

Done. FACT: Hard-boiled eggs are boring. They don't taste that great either, but that's a far smaller problem. And the Robocup is the perfect solution for spicing up your bland breakfast life.

You place the egg into the Robocup. Once anthropomorphized properly, the ~~egg~~ miniature spaceman prisoner can be eaten with a spoon he provides for you. Upon digestion, you capture the power of spacemen everywhere—a phenomenon remarkably similar to eating a boiled egg in this dimension—but way better (with some salt). – Mark Wilson

Product Page [via nerdapproved]

RoboCup Kicks Off

Jason Chen — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 18:11:29 EDT

If the human kind of "footy" isn't enough for you, the 10th annual RoboCup gets started today and lasts until the 20th. There are 11 different leagues, with reigning champion Germany expected to win in the four-legged competition, and Japan being the favorites for the humanoid race (naturally).

We're still a long ways off from meeting the goal that the Robot Team can beat a human team by the year 2050, since it's a miracle these things can stand up and move around right now without falling over, but we're getting there! – Jason Chen

Robot scoccer world Cup kicks off [BBC]