Tech

RoboCup 2014 Is the World Cup for Robots

The 2014 RoboCup is an annual robot-soccer competition that brings together thousands of people to further robotics technology, and to crown a RoboCup champion. This year, the competition will be held in João Pessoa, Brazil.

Launched in 1997, RoboCup's goal is to create a robotic soccer team that will be able to beat the winner of the World Cup by 2050. Although none of the robot teams are currently ready to take on human soccer players, great strides have been made since the competition's creation.
The matches will take place from July 21 to 25.

The 2014 RoboCup is being held in João Pessoa, Brazil. Teams from 45 countries are attending this year's competition.

Image: Valdecir Becker/RoboCup/UFPB
Teams will compete in different categories broken down by robot size and construction. The Humanoid fields are divided into Kid, Teen and Adult sizes, while the other divisions have fewer restrictions on what the design of the robot has to look like.

Image: Valdecir Becker/RoboCup/UFPB
The Humanoid League is the most difficult, as robots must be able to balance. Matches consist of two to five robots from each team playing two 10-minute halves.

Image: Valdecir Becker/RoboCup/UFPB
RoboCup's goal is to create a team of robots that can beat the winner of the World Cup by 2050.

Image: Valdecir Becker/RoboCup/UFPB
2014 is the first year the RoboCup has ever been hosted in South America.

Image: Valdecir Becker/RoboCup/UFPB
The Nao humanoid robots began development in 2004 by a French robotics company called Aldebran Robotics. It has been a popular platform at RoboCup.

Image: Valdecir Becker/RoboCup/UFPB
The increase in processor and component speeds since the RoboCup first began has allowed the matches to become faster in pace, and more reminiscent of actual soccer.

Image: Valdecir Becker/RoboCup/UFPB
In 1997, the competition only had 38 teams competing; this year, there will be more than 150. Decreasing costs to buy into and operate the robot platforms over the past 17 years means more teams are able to join each year.

Image: Valdecir Becker/RoboCup/UFPB
This year's RoboCup matches will take place from July 21 to 25.

Image: Valdecir Becker/RoboCup/UFPB
RoboCup is meant to be a forum in which teams share ideas, and help create breakthroughs in robotic research, as much as it is a competition.

Image: Valdecir Becker/RoboCup/UFPB
Until the winner is announced, teams operate in secret, tweaking their software and hardware to get any edge they can.

Image: Valdecir Becker/RoboCup/UFPB
After all of the matches have been played, every team is required to publish their work; this encourages participants to build better robots.

Image: Valdecir Becker/RoboCup/UFPB