Emma Chamberlain: Robots rule in soccer tournament

By EMMA CHAMBERLAIN

There's 30 seconds left to play. Beckham tries a cross to Giggs but is intercepted by R2-D2. Fresh from a £20m transfer from Chelsea, R2 passes to C-3PO, who weaves past Sherringham. He's looking to volley it home ... It's in! The crowd goes wild. It's 2-1 to the robots! There goes the final whistle! Game-ovahhhhhh."

As Buck Rogers as it sounds, a soccer match which pits human against humanoid is closer than you might think.

RoboCup has existed as an annual international, inter-robot soccer competition since 1997, and by 2050, the co-op of artificial intelligence and robotics researchers behind the event say they will have a team of "fully autonomous humanoid robots capable of defeating the human soccer world champions."

Last year's RoboCup in Melbourne featured a two-legged humanoid or bi-ped exhibition league for the first time. The first full-blown humanoid competition league is set to kick off at RoboCup 2002. This year's Robo- Cup will be held in Seattle from August 2 to August 10.

The brainchild of Professor Alan Mackworth from the University of British Colombia, soccer robotics brings what is usually an eclectic area of research a little closer to home.

Past hits of artificial intelligence and robotics research have included Deep Blue, the computer that beat chess champion Garry Kasparov at his own game, and the NASA Pathfinder, the robot that walked on Mars. The aim of the RoboCup gatherings is to develop robots more beneficial to "socially significant problems and industries." Hence RoboCup Rescue, the Robo-Cup offshoot which is developing search and rescue robots.

Soccer is also RoboCup's game of choice because playing it involves a wide range of technologies working together.

To coordinate all that is learned from these meetings, an artificial intelligence and robotics symposium runs alongside the RoboCup competition. In the ye olde tradition of websites, this is a site in the style of academics-talking-about-things-in-a-way-only-they-would-understand.

Like other soccer competitions RoboCup has several leagues. There is the simulator league which involves no actual robots. Instead, teams compete via the RoboCup soccer server simulator. There is the small size league or "Formula 180" for robots that can fit into an 180 sq cm area in which the Auckland University team the "All Botz" competes. The middle size or "Formula 2000" league is for teams of four robots of up to about 50cm in diameter.

The Sony four-legged league looks a little like it could be the league for future robo-sport celebrities. Complete with corporate sponsorship, these robots are sleek, with a smooth metallic amour. They "wag their tails and blink their eyes when they see the bright orange ball" and with a four-leg degree of difficulty — the other robot leagues use wheels — they doubtless work hard for their money. You can see what all the robots look like at the RoboCup photo gallery.

* Peter Sinclair is on leave

Links


RoboCup

RoboCup2000

Alan Mackworth

DeepBlue

NASA Pathfinder

RoboCup Rescue

RoboCup 2001 International Symposium

Soccer server

RoboCup Small-Size League

All Botz

RoboCup Middle Size League

The Sony four-legged league

RoboCup photo gallery