By Chris Cosci

There is an international group that promotes the development of robotics and artificial intelligence. Their goal is to foster AI and intelligent robotics research, and to work on a problem where many different technologies can be utilized and examined. What could they be working on? Medical tools for surgical procedures that are more convenient and effective? Technology to design faster and safer modes of transportation? Maybe the ultimate resource of information that will make libraries and even the Internet seem archaic for research?

Actually, it's none of those. This group is dedicated to developing intelligent robots that can play soccer.

You probably think I'm kidding, right? Seriously, this group exists. And if you still don't believe me, then you're never going to believe the name of the group: RoboCup.

Before I continue, please take a moment to stop thinking about Robocop, the movie that I'm certain popped into your head the minute you read the name above. While the names sound similar, there is actually no connection between the two. After all, Robocop was about a cop who was half man, half robot. RoboCup involves machines that are 100% robots... and they play soccer.

The concept for soccer-playing robots was first introduced in 1993. After many studies and workshops, the first RoboCup soccer games were held in Nagoya, Japan in 1997. In 2001, Seattle was given the honor of hosting the fifth annual competition. Imagine, poor Salt Lake City was given the consolation prize of hosting the 2002 Winter Olympics. The last RoboCup games, held back in June in Fukuoka, Japan, featured over 1,000 participants from 29 nations.

The RoboCup soccer teams are divided into different leagues. Two of them are the Small-Size League and the Middle-Size League. However, these leagues consist mostly of relatively small machines that roll around on wheels. The more robot-like leagues are the Four Legged Robot League and the Humanoid League. Thousand of visitors flock to these competitions to watch the high technology in action. While the machines are not quite as nimble as their human counterparts, they must certainly be more amusing to watch.

The ultimate goal of RoboCup is, by 2050 (right around the corner), "to develop a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can win against the human world champion team in soccer." Won't that be wonderful? Just think of how much better the world will be when we no longer need to waste human lives on playing soccer. We can just watch highly developed robots play against each other. And why stop there? Why not make golfing robots? Anything could make that sport more interesting to watch.

Okay, so it may seem absurd that grown men and women with a tremendous amount of skill are spending their time building robots that play soccer. You would think that they could come up with a better use of their abilities, such as building robots that wash dishes or clean bedrooms. The truth is, there is more to RoboCup than just soccer. There's another division call RoboCupRescue. That project is designed to produce robots that will help in emergency situations where humans would face great risks. The best part of the program is that every time a robot saves a life, another robot is standing in the background yelling "gooooooooooaaaaaal!"

Seriously, there are some truly worthwhile efforts being made by the members of RoboCup. And if all else fails, at least we'll have some top-notch soccer to watch.