German Robots Sending Warning Signal for 2050 World Cup

The final whistle has blown on the 2006 RoboCup in Germany and it was the host machines that dominated the competition. German robot teams won in 11 of 33 categories, including football and rescuing people from disasters – but can they rescue people while playing football? I think not. China finished a close second with Japan in third, proving the RoboCup in no way, shape or form will mirror the results of the actual World Cup.

On Monday the engineers involved in the competition will study why some robots kicked ass and why some looked liked Serbia and Montenegro in group play. The really smart people attending the conference are hoping that their collective brainpower will come up with a way to design a robot team that can beat the real World Cup champions by 2050.

“I think that is realistic,” said Ubbo Visser, a lecturer at the International University of Bremen’s technology centre. “If you consider that there was not much more time between the Wright Brothers’ first flight and the landing on the moon.”

The way some teams have played this World Cup you would think that robots are already showing their stuff.