With the score tied 1-1, it's
gone to a penalty shootout in a tense soccer match between teams from Israel
and Australia. As the Australian goalkeeper in his red jersey braces for the
shot, the Israeli striker pauses. Then he breaks into a dance instead of
kicking the ball. Perhaps he can be forgiven: He's a robot, after all. Welcome
to the RoboCup, where more than a thousand soccer-playing robots from forty
countries have descended on the Dutch technology Mecca of Eindhoven this week
with one goal in mind: beat the humans.
The tournament's mission is to
defeat the human World Cup winners by 2050, creating technology along the way
that will have applications far beyond the realm of sport. To achieve this,
organizers have created multiple competition classes including small robots,
large robots, humanoid robots and even virtual robots with plans to merge
their techniques into a single squad of all-star androids capable of one day
winning a man vs. machine matchup. Humanoid robots have difficulty keeping
their balance, and the largest (human height) move more like, well, robots
than world-class athletes.
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