RoboCup is an annual international robotics competition with the aim of promoting AI and robotics research, by offering a publicly appealing, but formidable challenge. The first RoboCup games where held in 1997 in Nagoya, Japan with 38 teams participating from 11 countries.
The goal of RoboCup, as stated on the official website:
"By the middle of the 21st century, a team of fully autonomous humanoid robot soccer players shall win a soccer game, complying with the official rules of FIFA, against the winner of the most recent World Cup."
There are a number of domains in the competition, including:
- RoboCupSoccer
- RoboCupRescue
- RoboCup@Home
- RoboCupIndustrial
- RoboCupJunior
RoboCupSoccer has five leagues:
- Humanoid
- Standard Platform
- Middle Size
- Small Size
- Simulation
The Humanoid League is used to research and investigate dynamic walking and running, kicking the ball with balance and stability, visual perception of the ball, other players, and the field, self-localization, and team play, strategy, etc. [1]
The Humanoid League is organized into three categories, based on the robot size: Kids Size, Teen Size and Adult Size.
Previously, we competed in the Four Legged League (2002-2007), the Standard Platform League (2008-2011), the Humanoid KidSize League (2012-2017), and the Humanoid TeenSize League (2018-2019). With the removal of the Humanoid TeenSize League after the 2019 competition, NUbots returned to the Humanoid KidSize League (2021-2023). Due to COVID-19, no competition was held in 2020.
NUbots became the Four Legged League world champions in 2006 in Germany. NUbots, in collaboration with the National University of Maynooth from Ireland, won the first Standard Platform League in 2008, as team NUManoid in Suzhou, China.
