About RoboCup
The goal of the RoboCup federation as stated on the Official RoboCup Homepage is:
"By the year 2050, develop a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can win against the human world soccer champion team."
The competitions promote international research in areas associated with autonomous agents and robots. Major areas of research are multi-agent coordination, navigation, vision and mechanical and electrical design.The RoboRoos compete in the F180 league (also known as the small size league) of the annual RoboCup competitions. Each team has five robots that each must physically fit inside a cylinder with a diameter of 180mm and a height of 150mm. Devices to dribble and kick the ball are permitted as long as they do not hold the ball and 80% of the ball is kept outside of the convex hull of the robot. The field is approximately 3 x 4 metres, with an orange golf ball acting as the soccer ball. Generally teams use global overhead vision as the primary sensor although some teams mount cameras on their robots.
The rules are similar to the human version of the game (FIFA), with exceptions such as the elimination of the offside rule and changes required to make sense for wheeled robots. There are two 10 minute halves, with the clock stopping for any break in play (such as a foul or the ball going out of bounds). The robots are fully autonomous in the sense that no strategy or control input is allowed by the human operators during play. Humans referee the matches.
This league is known for its highly dynamic and competitive nature. Some robots can accelerate at over 4m/s/s and the golf ball can be kicked at 5.0m/s.
Lots more information available at the Official RoboCup Homepage.