SGI sponsors 2002 robocup soccer competition

Citation

(2002), "SGI sponsors 2002 robocup soccer competition", Industrial Robot, Vol. 29 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2002.04929fab.005

SGI sponsors 2002 robocup soccer competition

SGI sponsors 2002 robocup soccer competition

Keywords: Robots, Japan

Members of the Cornell Big Red (see Plate 4) team cheer on their robots at the 2002 RoboCup Soccer competition in Fukuoka, Japan, sponsored by SGI. Cornell beat Free University of Berlin, 7-3, on June 23 for its third Small-Sized Robot League championship in 4 years. With 193 teams from over 30 countries involved in this year’s event, ending June 25, RoboCup features autonomous robots competing in soccer and search-and-rescue tournaments with the goal of advancing artificial intelligence technology.

Plate 4 The 2002 Robocup soccer competition

Teams of engineering and science students from around the world convened in Fukuoka, Japan to match their wits against one another with autonomous robots competing in exhilarating soccer tournaments and a dramatic search-and-rescue contest.

In an enclosed stadium parceled into playing fields, robots were pitted against each other, winning or losing on the basis of their prowess in such capabilities as sensing, mobility, decision making and collaboration. Behind their successes and strategies are budding technowizards from universities in Bulgaria, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, Sweden and the U.S., among many others.

“Young scientists and engineers around the world today are the key to tomorrow’s advances in science and technology”, explained SGI Chairman and CEO Bob Bishop. “And SGI is committed to supporting emerging international science and technology talent. We are convinced that SGI products will power many of the most exciting discoveries and breakthroughs of the 21st century.”

RoboCup 2002, presented under the auspices of the international RoboCup Federation. The event features teams of robots of various sizes. Some robots are so small they’ll compete on a field the size of a ping-pong table, while others resemble the size and shape of puppies. For the first time ever, a humanoid league presented competing two-legged robots up to 180 cm (six feet) tall.

Each year, the competition is divided into Soccer, Junior and Rescue tournaments.

RoboCup Soccer consists of five leagues: Small-Sized Soccer Robot, Middle-Sized Soccer Robot, Sony Four-Legged Robot, Simulation Soccer and Humanoid Robot. RoboCupJunior is an educational initiative for young students, designed to introduce RoboCup to primary and secondary school children.

RoboCupRescue features two leagues: Rescue Simulation and Rescue Robot Leagues, the latter designed to spur breakthrough technologies that will aid in relief efforts at disaster sites worldwide. In fact, RoboCup rescue robots were sent to help on an experimental basis in rescue operations at the World Trade Center in the days following September 11.

The RoboCup Federation chose soccer as a way of showcasing advances in robotics technology, with the ultimate goal of developing a team of robotic players capable of defeating the human world soccer champs by the year 2050.

“If, less than 50 years from now, the robotic team can beat the human champions, think of what robots will be able to do for us in dangerous, extreme or far-distant environments”, said Walter Stewart, director, Global Marketing, Research & Education at SGI. “The RoboCupRescue Simulation league is concerned precisely with the use of robots at disaster scenes too dangerous for human rescue workers.”

For further details contact about SGI and the sciences, visit http://www.sgi.com/industries/sciences/, and for complete information about RoboCup 2002, visit http://www.robocup2002.org/.