If you like robots and football, you will LOVE Robot football!
Robots playing football (or ‘soccer’ if you are American) is nothing new. Robot football began in 1995 in Korea, and from 1996 onwards, international championships were held yearly. But what started as a bunch of barely moving robots fumbling to pass the ball has become a fast-paced, engaging spectator sport.
This year Thailand will receive the honor of hosting the event under the name RoboCup 2022 (Not to be confused with Paul Verhoeven's cinematic masterpiece “Robocop”). Thousands of participants from 45 countries will attend the event, competing in different leagues such as The junior league, industrial league, @home league, and more. But the main event will no doubt be the robot football finals.
If you want to see how far robots have come in playing football (with the clear goal of one day beating a team of humans), you can check out this recorded Livestream of the European RoboCup finals that took place last week. It is just as engaging as a ‘real’ football match, only with fewer players falling on the grass, pretending to be hurt.
