Gadgetory

this robocar leipzig germany hundreds of teams from more than 40 countries have come to compete in RoboCup the global robot soccer tournament that sees teams of bots battling to win glory for their human creators on pint-sized pitches robots from the humanoid standard platform wheeled and even AI leagues are vying for victory most built or programmed by students hoping to win distinction for their school or university in Robocop there are no remote controls winning depends on building smart autonomous soccer BOTS that play with no human interaction competing teams wind them up and when the whistle blows let them go in the humanoid leagues half the battle is finding economic and efficient ways to build the robot players this is cascade which is one of our so called heme BOTS this is a 3d printed robot which we designed ourselves last year and this is our attempt to make the research cheaper we get quite attached because after some years when you work with the robots you recognize that every robot has some specialities like you know he's always falling down and yeah it's more like children because you have to take care about them all the time they have to have two legs two arms they have to walk upright and yeah this makes a lot of things more difficult because we are falling down and this is still one even after a lot of years of research this is like the biggest problem we have even now the problem of staying upright isn't limited to the humanoid BOTS meet the standard platform League where all teams compete using the now robot from Softbank robotics the SPL presents a unique challenge when every bot is physically identical victory comes down to who can code the most sophisticated software with teams hoping upgraded code will lead to better performing robots and a superior spot on the leaderboard we know hopefully walk faster and more stable and our steam strategy was improved last year we were the such place and hopefully we come to the final we'll always like learn something try something new and the codebase and see if the robots can behave better than last year so I think a self-improvement is one of our goal like every year participating in it when a team wins this competition you know they have the best programmers basically you know there's no if and buts or they can do some hardware better they can solder better they can buy better equipment it's a nice flat playing field and a nice way to compare certain universities it's a glorious afternoon here in the RoboCup Stadium an excited crowd eager to see our bots in blue put on a show coach says we won't USB leave some of the new tactics on display here Robocop is older than you think ok not this old Robocop began in 1997 its ultimate aim to develop intelligent humanoid robots capable of defeating human pro footballers by 2050 every tournament brings fresh challenges this year the bots must play using a new black and white ball which has thrown off many of the robots imaging sensors so that's making it very hard to see in any condition and then on top of that we're throwing in that this outdoor arena so if you've used any cameras you know if to change the exposure between sunshine and the robots can't do that automotive on the field so the change in light can be really dramatic as well the whole item of Robocop is by 2050 that we can play against a FIFA World Cup of Champions so we have to get outdoor one day it may be some time to fool these bots are troubling Ronaldo and pals but the technological advances born out of this competition could change the world much sooner we've had a blast at this year's RoboCup whether it's meeting the teams and seeing just how dedicated they are or watching the actual games which is surprisingly tense and feature a lot of adorable robots falling over beyond soccer RoboCup hosts challenges to build rescue robots or machines that offer home support to disabled or elderly people as well as junior leagues and even robot theater for BOTS treading the boards uniting this diverse festival of Robotics is a shared goal advancing artificial intelligence and ushering in the glorious robot future oh the false pancakes oh this is literally it