Who Will Win the 2015 Robo World Cup?

With teams taking part from more than 45 countries the Robo World Cup has kicked off this weekend in Hefei, China. The yearly even that was held in Brazil last year has made its way to Asia and will see a huge number of universities from around the world pitting their robotic players against each other in an attempt to be crowned winners of the Robo World Cup

Launched in 1997 the event has grown rapidly from its humble begins with the aim of advancing the development of robotics and artificial intelligence. Each year the robots get a little bit better and take a step closer to the lofty goal of competing against and beating their human world cup winners by 2050.

Source: BBC

Going by the performance this year that still seems a long way off but a lot can happen in 35 years and if the progress of the past 10 years is anything to go by then this target may not be as farfetched as it sounds.

There are several different leagues with the humanoid one drawing the largest following and while the fan base isn’t as big as that of the World Cup there will be no shortage of supporters cheering on these knee high players.
Here is a small taster of whats on offer from the University of Hertfordshire team.

Behind this on field performance is some challenging coding, which allows for the autonomous players to detect and kick the ball as well as control their dynamic movements. Maintaining balance can be especially troublesome and the robots are also inclined to kick each other as they occasionally mistake their opponents, and teammates, for the ball.

The winners should be known by the 23^rd of July, last year’s winners from the University of NSW as well as last year’s runners up from the HTWK Leipzig University will be strong favorites.

If you would like to read more regarding the Robot world cup then visit the Robo Cup Website.