Lara Mills
01-07-13, 13:43
Robot football players compete with the aim of beating humans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezlSpLuTdcg
More than a thousand football-playing robots and RoboCup fans from forty countries have descended on the Dutch technology Mecca of Eindhoven this week with one goal in mind, to beat the humans at their own game.
The tournament's mission is to defeat the human World Cup winners by 2050, creating technology along the way that will have applications far beyond the realm of sport.
To achieve the goal, organisers have created multiple competition classes, including small robots, large robots, humanoid robots and even virtual robots, with plans to merge their techniques into a single squad of all-star androids capable of one day winning a man vs. machine matchup.
Humanoid robots have difficulty keeping their balance, and the largest, human height, move more like, well, robots than world-class athletes.
According to tournament director Rene van de Molengraft the humanoid bots range from as little as 5,000 US dollars for the standard platform bots, when bought in bulk, to $35,000 or more for handmade adult-size models, which are 130 centimetres (4 feet) and taller.
While the humanoid robots have a long way to go, it is a different story when robots are allowed to be robots, that is, with wheels, joints that can pivot 360 degrees and a wide array of sensors.
In all the divisions, once a game starts, there is no human interference whatsoever.
Apart from substitutions, when humans are allowed to remove a robot that has broken down. Or when referees eject a robot from the game for fouling an opponent.
The mid-size robot competition, which some fans refer to as "the R2-D2 league", most resembles real football, played on a 60 foot (18 metre) long court.
The mid-size bots, from Iran's Qazvin Open University, are shaped like buoys and have a top speed of around 14mph (22kph).
The bots use different kicks for passing and shooting, and they communicate their position to each other via wireless internet connections.
But arguably the most enjoyable matches to watch are in the "standard platform" division, where all contestants use the same small humanoid robot, manufactured by Aldebaran Robotics.
Source: click here (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10151440/Robot-football-players-compete-with-the-aim-of-beating-humans.html)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezlSpLuTdcg
More than a thousand football-playing robots and RoboCup fans from forty countries have descended on the Dutch technology Mecca of Eindhoven this week with one goal in mind, to beat the humans at their own game.
The tournament's mission is to defeat the human World Cup winners by 2050, creating technology along the way that will have applications far beyond the realm of sport.
To achieve the goal, organisers have created multiple competition classes, including small robots, large robots, humanoid robots and even virtual robots, with plans to merge their techniques into a single squad of all-star androids capable of one day winning a man vs. machine matchup.
Humanoid robots have difficulty keeping their balance, and the largest, human height, move more like, well, robots than world-class athletes.
According to tournament director Rene van de Molengraft the humanoid bots range from as little as 5,000 US dollars for the standard platform bots, when bought in bulk, to $35,000 or more for handmade adult-size models, which are 130 centimetres (4 feet) and taller.
While the humanoid robots have a long way to go, it is a different story when robots are allowed to be robots, that is, with wheels, joints that can pivot 360 degrees and a wide array of sensors.
In all the divisions, once a game starts, there is no human interference whatsoever.
Apart from substitutions, when humans are allowed to remove a robot that has broken down. Or when referees eject a robot from the game for fouling an opponent.
The mid-size robot competition, which some fans refer to as "the R2-D2 league", most resembles real football, played on a 60 foot (18 metre) long court.
The mid-size bots, from Iran's Qazvin Open University, are shaped like buoys and have a top speed of around 14mph (22kph).
The bots use different kicks for passing and shooting, and they communicate their position to each other via wireless internet connections.
But arguably the most enjoyable matches to watch are in the "standard platform" division, where all contestants use the same small humanoid robot, manufactured by Aldebaran Robotics.
Source: click here (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10151440/Robot-football-players-compete-with-the-aim-of-beating-humans.html)