Robocup 2002 Now Underway

ChenLing writes "Forget small robots on wheels playing soccer...193 teams from 30 countries have built androids to play soccer at 'RoboCup'. Although as the article says, it will be a while before we can pit androids vs humans on the same field....." Our previous story has background links and information about the contest.

Bleh

[ALoverOfPeace]

Who wants to watch robots play soccer [battlebots.com]?

50 years?

[jglow]

The RoboCup people have made it their goal to create a team of robots tht will beat the world cup winner by 2050. Pretty amazing stuff.

I'm on a team...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm on the University of Virginia team, and we're in the simulation league. We don't have physical robots. The result is we don't have to spend the effort on mechanical concerns and image recognition, and we get to devote more effort to the AI aspect of the competition. In the simulation league, the robots DO get tired, they do miss shots, and they have imperfect information. The idea is to remove all physical considerations from play and have them win on intellect alone. The robots being used in competition are no where near the level required to beat a world cup team, but I imagine that once they get close, these "humanizing [about.com]" factors will be added to keep the match fair. At the current rate of development, I expect this to be well before 2050.

Wow.

[bluemilker]

I didn't realize robotics had gotten anywhere near this point. I think a lot of people underestimate exactly how hard it is to get a robot to do something like, for example, find a ball. Now these robots are walking (a significant challenge, from my experience... :) kicking a ball, and interacting with each other? Pretty incredible.

I wonder how sophisticated these humanoids can get. Can they pick themselves up if they stumble? Can they figure out whether another robot is on their team? Can they pass? The article seems to imply that at this point, they're not that much more than glorified mechanical penalty kickers.

Forget small robots on wheels? Don't think so.

[pornaholic]

The motivation behind these human-shaped robots is not at all the same as the motivation of the wheeled robot soccer tournaments. The whole point behind the small robots on wheels is to learn and improve on teamplay and improvisional skills from a software level, not in mimicry of physical ability. These approaches to robot design aren't competitive, they are parallel in the pursuit of higher functionality.

How About a What's New File?

[GeekLife.com]

I'd like to see a comparison of this year's robots vs. last year's. What new features are being tried out, how much closer are we to the dream of beating the best humans, and what strategies are being rethought?

Everyone always talks about how fast technology like this advances, but when I watch the little Aibo's fight it out, it always looks the same to me. Can anyone provide insight?