In the absense of local human talent, Chinese soccer fans have taken to watching robots instead. Four teams of fully-autonomous humanoid machines competed in 3-on-3 matches Saturday night in a preview for the World Humanoid Robot Games soon to take place in Beijing.
Equipped with advanced visual sensors, the robots were able to identify the ball and navigate the field with agility. They were also designed to stand up on their own after falling. However, during the match several still had to be carried off the field on stretchers by staff, adding to the realism of the experience.
If the footwork isn't so fine as it is when humans play, at least they don't constantly pretend to be injured. That is not to say, however, that they don't fall over a lot. The company providing the bots was Booster Robotics; university students wrote custom software for their teams.
Here's Booster Roboics CEO Cheng Hao, quoted by the Associated Press:
"In the future, we may arrange for robots to play football with humans. That means we must ensure the robots are completely safe," Cheng said. "For example, a robot and a human could play a match where winning doesn't matter, but real offensive and defensive interactions take place. That would help audiences build trust and understand that robots are safe."
