TEAMS of football-playing robots have been filmed fumbling around the pitch as part of a new tournament in China.
The Beijing-based ROBO League football tournament saw teams of humanoid robots kicking, scoring and tumbling through matches on Saturday.
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Four teams faced off in a series of three-on-three games, with the robots operating autonomously using artificial intelligence (AI).
Visual sensors in the robots act as their eyes, so they can identify the ball navigate the field.
Using AI in the robots means they can kick, dribble, plan, make decisions, cooperate and shoot completely on their own.
Human research teams sat on the sidelines watching robots exercise their abilities in motion control, visual perception, positioning and navigation, decision-making, and multi-robot collaboration.
The matches went ahead with little human intervention – besides a near pile-up when one robot fell over and nearly took out two others.
But despite being designed to pick themselves up after falls, two robots still required stretchers from staff after ‘injuries’.
Other robots struggled to kick the ball.
It is touted as China’s first AI football competition.
It offers a glimpse into the upcoming World Humanoid Robot Games in August, which will also be held in Beijing.
China is actively investing in AI and robotics, which is increasingly being utilised in sports.
Cheng Hao, CEO of Booster Robotics, which supplied the robots, said competitions like these will help improve the robots more quickly.
He also said that robots playing football with humans safely could build public trust in the future.
Booster Robotics provided the robot hardware, while university research teams developed their own AI algorithms for perception, decision-making, and game strategies.
In the final match, Tsinghua University’s THU Robotics defeated China Agricultural University’s Mountain Sea team 5-3.
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