Robots battle for football cup

Updated 14.39 Tue Jun 24 2008

Keywords: robotic, footie, austria, football, euroby 2008, soccer, robots

As footballers fight for the Euro 2008 crown, their robot counterparts have also been battling it out.

While England failed to qualify for the human tournament, the UK was represented at the European Robot Football Cup by competitors from Plymouth University.

While England failed to qualify for the human tournament, the UK was represented at the European Robot Football Cup by competitors from Plymouth University

British robot engineers used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to ensure their players had both speed and agility.

Team leader Guido Bugmann said: "You have the camera here which looks at the pitch, at the ball, the goal posts and the computer makes the decisions, so this robot is completely autonomous."

Mr Bugmann hopes to have robots playing against people by 2050.

This year the Leonding Micros, representing co-hosts Austria, took on Slovenia's Ljubljana Dragons in the final match, but once again missed out on the trophy, defeated 9-1.