Some Americans claim soccer does not have enough action or excitement. I totally disagree, or at least disagree that humans playing soccer is not exciting. On the other hand, watching robots play soccer could seem somewhat monotonous and even a little disturbing. However my national pride swells for the two USA robots that took first in the adult-size and child-size categories at the 2011 World RoboCup.I became even more proud once I read what went into the victory of USA’s CHARLI-2 beating Singapore’s Robo Erectus 1-0 in the adult-size category. To give some perspective of this machine, last year Popsi.com comprehensively wrote about a similar robot, CHARLI-L. The article said, “Its name is CHARLI-L (the “L” stands for “Lightweight” and the rest for “Cognitive Humanoid Autonomous Robot with Learning Intelligence”). Created at Virginia Tech, it’s America’s first true humanoid, in that it requires no remote power source or computer, it stands roughly five feet tall and has arms and legs, and it walks—left, right, left, right—like a human.” Click here to read more about CHARLI-L.
Below is a video of the final match of the USA’s victory over Singapore. (to save you some time, the only real action is in the first 2 mins, after which there is a series of time violations and missed shots). Supposedly the goal is to have these robots ready to compete against humans by 2050. That appears to be a lofty goal based on this video, but who knows?
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