RoboCup

RoboCup is our second stop in the exploration of the Human-Technology-Fun (H-T-F) connection. Like the PowerSkip, it gives us premonitions of a very different sports experience. Unlike PowerSkippers, the athletes are robots. The H- and -F parts of the H-T-F connection have to do with getting to design and control soccer-playing robots.

Though the organizers of the event have a different idea of the intended outcome, the fact is that the whole idea of robot soccer fairly reeks of fun. It most definitely points to the development of a new era in sports, as well as the emergence of a new class of athletes. And I don't mean the robots.

The RoboCup people explain: "RoboCup...is an international research and education initiative. It is an attempt to foster AI and intelligent robotics research by providing a standard problem where wide range of technologies can be integrated and examined, as well as being used for integrated project-oriented education...In order for a robot team to actually perform a soccer game, various technologies must be incorporated including: design principles of autonomous agents, multi-agent collaboration, strategy acquisition, real-time reasoning, robotics, and sensor-fusion. RoboCup is a task for a team of multiple fast-moving robots under a dynamic environment. RoboCup also offers a software platform for research on the software aspects of RoboCup."

Let us, however, not be fooled by all this high-tech ambition. RoboCup is one small step towards yet another giant leap for funkind.