Iran puts on remarkable show at RoboCup 2015

Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, the World Cup may be won by small, adorable robots – ones that have already embarked on a rigorous athletic training at this year’s RoboCup 2015 competition held in Hefei, China.

The competition, now in its 19th year, saw more than 300 teams from 47 counties participate, Chinese state media reported. Once the competition starts, the robots are on their own, with the teams not allowed to interfere with the programming. That means they have to do things like see the ball, calculate its trajectory and perceive the surrounding environment without the aid of some of the advanced sensors commonly found in modern robots. And they make decisions. “And then they share all that information – everybody knows what everyone else is doing”.

Harris also stated that the secret to his team’s success was their speed. Some require competitors to develop robots with the same hardware and different software, while others want robots to be built from the ground up.

“Everyone has the same robots, so it’s all about how you program them and the intelligence”. But we are fast.

USA team takes first prize in largest “adult” size category in annual event for intelligent sporting machines in China. The robots range in size, from bathroom-trashcan-sized to child-sized.

Robots will autonomously operate without external control and will be assessed on their skills like walking, running, kicking, maintaining balance, visual perception and self-localization.

That goal seems a bit lofty, seeing as numerous teams’ robots still struggle to kick a ball without falling over. “All that left an impression”, said 22-year-old Jin Tao.

The RoboCup was launched by Japanese researchers in 1993 in an attempt to use soccer to promote the advancement of robotic science and technology.