The competition features robot in a somewhat tame match of soccer...
First it was robot weddings, now it's robot soccer. Just when you thought things couldn't get any weirder for Japan, it was revealed that they took home the world championship of the RoboCup, a robot soccer event held in China. This annual outing features various types of robots that fight it out in different categories for the world cup. Over 40 countries participate in the games, including the Bold Hearts, a team of robotics experts from the University of Hertfordshire representing Britain. The team didn't get very far as they were beaten in the second round by a French team.
(via Robocup)
This year's final match up was between the University of Chiba's The Brain Kids and ZJUDancer from China's Zhejian University. The Brain Kids took home the winning title. The whole thing sounds pretty impressive, but it's not a cutthroat competition. The robots aren't very quick as they look like babies taking their first step when they walk. Then they need to find the ball themselves and communicate with other team members to figure out the next move. They may not be fast and they may not be graceful seeing how often they fall over, but this odd competition shows how far robotics have come in such a short time span. If developments keep coming at a steady pace there may be more robotics teams for basketball and baseball. Will this be the future of professional sports? Probably not, but it's still an interesting event.
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