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MONTHLY NEWS October 1997 Soccer Tournament for Robots |
Robots from Australia, Japan, the United States, and seven other countries competed in Robo Cup 97, the first international soccer contest for robots, in late August in the city of Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
The tournament showcased the achievements of experts on artificial intelligence and robot engineering. It was proposed by Japanese scholars to promote the development of artificial intelligence. Thirteen teams competed in the event. Each robot was programmed to spot the ball with a camera and to work with teammates to score goals. The games were often interrupted, though, when the robots bumped into walls or when the ball went out of the robots' sight. Some robots broke down and had to be repaired. The teams were grouped into two categories according to the size of the "players." There were nine teams in the medium-sized category consisting of up to five robots each. Sharing the title in this category were the car-shaped robots of Osaka University, Japan, and the robots built by the University of Southern California of the United States. Four teams competed in the small-size section. The winner was a team from Carnegie-Mellon University of the United States. A robot engineer at Osaka University said his school is aiming to develop robots capable of beating the human Brazilian national team in about 40 years time. The Robo Cup will be held annually from now on. Next year, it will be hosted by Paris, France--the site of the 1998 World Cup.
Photo: Robots kick off a match in Robo Cup 97. (Asahi Shogakusei Shimbun) 
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