RoboCup is happening this week at the International Convention Centre in Sydney, Australia. The event is a vehicle to promote robotics and AI research through exciting robot competitions powered by 3,500 participants from 40 countries.
When established in 1997, the original mission was to field a team of robots capable of winning against the human soccer World Cup champions by 2050. This led to multiple soccer leagues featuring robots small and large, simulated and real.
RoboCup has since branched out to include leagues that compete in rescue, industrial, and home scenarios. Kids also compete in their own league, which includes really fun artistic theatrical productions. The symposium at the end of the event highlights the research driving many of the achievements seen during the conference.
RoboCup is the reason I got into robotics, when I was just an MSc student in Manuela Veloso’s lab competing with the AIBOs. Here’s to a new generation of future roboticists and AI practitioners being inspired!
We’re hoping to bring you the latest news from the competitions this week and in the months ahead thanks to our team on the ground. You can also follow at @RoboCup2019, and #RoboCup2019.