Salon writes abouts RocoCup Soccer, a robotics competition who’s aim is to field a team of robots that can beat the world cup champions. The bar is pretty high and I’m sure that’s going to spur progress tremendously. However, I don’t think the world’s elite players would ever set foot on a field against robots and risk any career threatening injury. Would you go up for a header if there’s a big piece of plastic or metal going for it too?
The goal is to achieve what Veloso calls "the essential loop: developing robots that function simultaneously with action (movement), cognition (thinking), perception (vision and awareness)." Veloso is particularly interested in multiplayer robotic systems: how robots work with one another, share information and prioritize tasks. Soccer’s reliance on teamwork serves as an excellent model.