“Speaking from the perspective of industrialisation, as there are so many excellent technologies displayed here and also so many enterprises coming to hold exhibitions and visit, they can easily launch negotiations and co-operation here”, said Chen Xiaoping, general chair of the event and president of the Chinese committee of RoboCup. The ultimate goal was to build a robot soccer team that could compete with human World Cup champion teams by 2050. This category includes robots that stand at least four feet-tall, that must dribble down a field past various obstacles before trying to score against their opponent. REUTERS/Stringer A team from Australia cheer as they win against a German team during the 2015 Robocup finals in Hefei, Anhui province, July 22, 2015.REUTERS/Stringer A participant tests a robot soccer player before a competition at the RoboCup 2015, at an exhibition centre in Hefei, Anhui province, China, July 19, 2015.
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The yearly competition is broken out into multiple leagues, for humanoid and non-humanoid robots of various sizes, with over 500 teams competing from 45 countries.
Representing the British corner were Bold Hearts, a team of robotics experts from the University of Hertfordshire.
Harris reckoned the secret to his team’s success was speed.
The middle-sized robots final was marred by controversy, as both robots were shown yellow cards after colliding with each other harder than necessary. Matches were also played on soft artificial turf.
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Of these contests, arguably the most interesting takes place in the Humanoid League. As with human football, robotics football has its own governing body-the Federation of global Robot-Soccer Association (FIRA), which has its headquarters in Daejeon, South Korea.
