Thu, July 01, 2010
The Chinese robot soccer team emerges victorious at the International Humanoid Robot Olympic Games in China.
China may not have qualified for the real World Cup tournament in South Africa, but the nation's robots are finding the goal.
A Chinese team qualified and won the final soccer game in the small and large robot category matches in the annual International Humanoid Robot Olympic Games in Harbin.
Though thousands of screaming fans and vuvuzelas were missing, there was excitement as Chinese, South Korean and American teams pitted their robots against each other on the soccer pitch.
Two mechanical players on each team dribbled, kicked and passed the ball around, while a third robot defended the goal.
Harbin Institute of Technology computer science student Guo Weichao, who won the match after his robot scored the most number of goals in a penalty shoot-out, said China's robot soccer team was better than the human one.
SOUNDBITE: Computer science student at the Harbin Institute of Technology, Guo Weichao, saying (Mandarin):
"What makes us better than the human Chinese team, in my opinion, are two things: on one hand, it is physical ability. When humans are playing a match, their physical performance will weaken and they will become really exhausted. But our robots are the best among electricity-powered options, they will never get tired during a match."
South Korea's World Cup team advanced to the knock-out stage, but its robotic players failed to hold off China's attack.
Though the traditional red and yellow card drama was missing from the games, stunts, flips, and somersaults wowed audiences and left many choices for humanoid man of the match.
(Source: Reuters)
