The World Cup is not the only soccer tourna  ment held every four years. Teams of soccer-playing robots competed at RoboCup, at an international exhibition of robotics and artificial intelligence technology held in Fukuoka, Japan.

The robots, about the size and shape of a large coffee can, played in one of five mechanical soccer matches at the event. A team, dubbed the ‘Robobcats,’ was one of just a few around the U. S. A. to qualify for the tournament, which aimed to foster research in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). About 1,000 scientists and engineers representing 200 teams and 30 countries participated in RoboCup, which attracted about 100,000 visitors.

According to the organisers, the RoboCup is not just fun and games. Apart from entertainment value, the technology developed to make machines play soccer could also be used to create a fleet of automatic robots that could search for survivors at disaster sites, serve as security guards, receptionists or function in other situations too risky for humans, going into dangerous situations, cleaning up nuclear waste or even working as domestic help. The tournament was the culmination of three years of research into the complex task of developing computer software that could help the robots ‘think’ of strategies to kick the ball through the opponent’s goal. Several teachers and students from various engineering and scientific fields have struggled to achieve the goal. The answer lay in a powerful computer and a watchful camera. The robots moved on three multi-directional wheels and were equipped with a metal ‘kicker’ to push an orange-sized golf ball past the goalkeeper. A light-sensitive video camera mounted in the ceiling above the playing field, about the size of a Ping-Pong table, transmitted the location of the players back to a computer. The machine employs artificial intelligence to devise the best playing strategy.

The programme relies on a concept called ‘distributed computing’ in which unused computer power from the idle robots is sent to the robots that are actively racing for the shot. Robotics has several potential practical applications. NASA is adapting technology to establish a network of space satellites known as ‘Sensor Web’ that will collect, process and store scientific data on the earth’s atmosphere, land and oceans.

Engineers would like to use the technology for other applications as well, including a fleet of mobile robots that could be embedded in buildings to respond to emergency situations, either by transmitting information to rescue crews or even dousing fires. They are also beginning to explore the idea of using a team of robot dogs ‘trained’ to assist people with Alzheimer’s disease. The software could also be used to co-ordinate the flights of unmanned airborne vehicles (UAV), experimental aircraft that could be used for surveillance at international borders or to survey disaster sites. RoboCup had an exhibition of robot rescue technology, in which teams of robots were used to find victims at disaster sites.

The automobile manufacturer Honda Motor Co. Ltd. of Japan has developed ‘Asimo’, a human-like robot, which could one day perform useful tasks for its human masters. Honda is already leasing out Asimo to International Business Machines Corporation and other companies as a high-tech receptionist and hospitality robot. While Asimo is still used primarily for entertainment, its creators hope that it will some day be a useful household companion.