Robots Put Their Best Foot Forward, an Inch at a Time, in Soccer Match

This is a real intercollegiate soccer tournament, but instead of athletes, the schools deploy their robotics teams. The ROBO League Football Tournament was held in Beijing on June 28th. The 3-on-3 game above is between Tsinghua University and the Beijing Information & Science Technology University. The robots, built by Booster Robotics, seem a little hesitant, like they are nervous playing in front of a crowd. When the referees appear, you notice the robots are only three feet tall, and it then makes sense- they are playing as children! Or at least that's what they look like to us. They make goals, but there is no celebrating, no swinging kicks with followthrough, and barely any defense. The players spend their time and effort trying to identify the ball and follow it without falling down. There are no Terminators here. 

In previous robotics soccer games, the robots were guided by remote control. Here, remote control is disabled when the players take the field. Their movements are all programmed by artificial intelligence, which is where the real competition between the teams comes in. This video is just the highlights; you can see more and longer videos at Laughing Squid.