MUNICH, Germany — In Graz (Austria), the RoboCup 2009 robot soccer championship has started. From July 1 to July 5, robot teams from around the world compete for the cup.
The blue team is just in front of the red team's goal, the red's defence close in. The blue center forward is in position, hesitates for three endless seconds, then he shoots at goal, the red goalkeeper dives for the ball, but too late — gooooal! The crowd is excited, the stadium goes wild.
But what's that? The blue coach enters the field, he grabs the victorious player around his hip and carries him back to the center line as he were a puppet!
Well, this is not the match between, say ManU against Real Madrid, but between two robot teams. The players are not human but consist of aluminum, plastic, silicon and copper. And while strategy and tactics play much the same role as in the real soccer world, not the players physical and mental fitness determine which team will take the cup home but sensors, actuators and algorithms.
It is not all about soccer during the cup in the Graz city hall, and not everything is a real-world match in the Robocup. There are groups for small, medium-size, standard platform and humanoid leagues, and there are leagues for soccer simulation where virtual matches are performed. There is also a 'Rescue' league, and in the Junior class there are even robot dance competitions. All in all, 407 teams with 2300 human participants as well as a yet unknown number of robots will participate.
Junior and Senior teams — with the Senior group basically being formed by academic teams — will compete for the championship in the final rounds coming Sunday (July 5).
No team has been named yet as the favorite to win the cup.
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