RoboCup is an annual international robotics competition founded in 1996 by a group of university professors (including Hiroaki Kitano, Manuela M. Veloso, Itsuki Noda and Minoru Asada). The aim of the competition is to promote robotics and AI research by offering a publicly appealing – but formidable – challenge. The name RoboCup is a contraction of the competition's full name, "Robot World Cup Initiative" (based on the FIFA World Cup), but there are many other areas of competition such as "RoboCupRescue", "RoboCup@Home" and "RoboCupJunior". The official goal of the project is:
"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."
RoboCup leagues
The contest currently has six major domains of competition, each with a number of leagues and sub-leagues. These include: RoboCup Soccer Standard Platform League (formerly Four Legged League) Small Size League Middle Size League Simulation League 2D Soccer Simulation 3D Soccer Simulation Humanoid League RoboCup Rescue League Rescue Robot League Rescue Simulation League Rapidly Manufactured Robot Challenge (RMRC) for participants up to the age of 19. RoboCup@Home, which debuted in 2006, focuses on the introduction of autonomous robots to human society RoboCup@Home Open Platform League (formerly just RoboCup@Home) Robocup@Home Domestic Standard Platform League RoboCup@Home Social Standard Platform League RoboCup Logistics League, which debuted in 2012, is an application-driven league inspired by the industrial scenario of a smart factory RoboCup@Work, which debuted in 2016, "targets the use of robots in work-related scenarios" RoboCup Junior Soccer League OnStage (formerly Dance) League Rescue League Rescue CoSpace League Each team is fully autonomous in all RoboCup leagues. Once the game starts, the only input from any human is from the referee.
RoboCup editions
The formal RoboCup competition was preceded by the (often unacknowledged) first International Micro Robot World Cup Soccer Tournament (MIROSOT) held by KAIST in Taejon, Korea, in November 1996. This was won by an American team from Newton Labs, and the competition was shown on CNN. RoboCup was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The planned host location of Bordeaux went on to host in 2023.
RoboCup Asia-Pacific editions
European RoboCupJunior Championship
RoboCup local events
2025 German Open in Nuremberg Greece Open in Agrinio
2024 German open in Kassel
2023 German open
2021 RoboCup Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan RoboCup Portugal Open, virtual RoboCup Russia Open, Tomsk, Russia RoboCup Brazil Open, virtual
2020 RoboCup Japan Open 2020, virtual RoboCup China Open 2020, virtual RoboCup Brazil Open 2020, virtual Events were cancelled due to COVID-19
2019 RoboCup Portuguese Open 2019, Gondomar, Portugal RoboCup Brazil Open 2019, Rio Grande, Brazil RoboCup Asia Pacific 2019, Moscow, Russia RoboCup German Open 2019, Magdeburg, Germany RoboCup China Open 2019, Shaoxing, China
2018 RoboCup Portugal Open 2018, Torres Vedras, Portugal RoboCup Asia Pacific 2018, Kish Island, Iran RoboCup Iran Open 2018, Tehran, Iran RoboCup UAE 2018, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates RoboCup German Open 2018, Magdeburg, Germany
2017 RoboCup Portugal Open 2017, Coimbra, Portugal RoboCup Iran Open 2017, Tehran, Iran RoboCup German Open 2017, Magdeburg, Germany RoboCup Russia Open 2017, Tomsk, Russia RoboCup US Open 2017, Miami, United States RoboCup China Open 2017, Shaoxing, China
2016 RoboCup Portugal Open 2016, Bragança, Portugal RoboCup China Open 2016, Hefei, China RoboCup European Open 2016, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2015 RoboCup Portugal Open 2015, Vila Real, Portugal RoboCup China Open 2015, Guiyang, China RoboCup Iran Open 2015, Tehran, Iran GermanOpen 2015, Magdeburg, Germany
2014 RoboCup Portugal Open 2014, Espinho, Portugal RoboCup China Open 2014, Hefei, China RoboCup Iran Open 2014, Tehran, Iran RoboCup German Open, Magdeburg, Germany
2013 RoboCup Portugal Open 2013, Lisbon, Portugal RoboCup Iran Open 2013, Tehran, Iran RoboCup German Open, Magdeburg, Germany
2012 RoboCup Portugal Open 2012, Guimarães, Portugal RoboCup Dutch Open, Eindhoven, Netherlands RoboCup German Open, Magdeburg, Germany RoboCup Iran Open, Tehran, Iran RoboCup SSL North American Open, Vancouver, Canada
2011 RoboCup German Open, Magdeburg, Germany RoboCup Portugal Open, Lisbon, Portugal RoboCup Iran Open 2011, Tehran, Iran
2010 RoboCup Portugal Open, Leiria, Portugal Iran Open 2010, Tehran, Iran Latin America & Brazil Open 2010, São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil RoboCup Mediterranean Open 2010, Rome, Italy RoboCup German Open (unofficial all-European tournament), Magdeburg, Germany AUT Cup 2010, Tehran, Iran
See also Robot Botball FIRST BEST Robotics RobotCub Consortium, a humanoid robot project to study cognition via robotics
References
External links Media related to RoboCup at Wikimedia Commons
Official website RoboCup@Home league, aims to develop service and assistive robot technology with high relevance for future personal domestic applications.