Robot Soccer

Are you interested in ROBOTICS?  Do you like to have FUN?  Would you like to compete for CASH PRIZES?  Would you like to PRACTICE AND IMPROVE YOUR TECHNICAL SKILLS in the areas of visual processing, artificial intelligence, programming and/or robot control?  Would you like to add an IEEE CERTIFICATE to your resume?  Then join our annual New Zealand Robot Soccer Championship!

Robot Soccer is a well-known robot sports game and played competitively in many countries.  As the name suggests, robots play soccer games based on pre-programmed algorithms without any controls by humans.  The robot soccer system consists of three parts; a vision system, a strategy system, and a robot system.

Dr Ho Seok Ahn, the Vice-Chair of the CARES team coordinates an annual NZ Robot Soccer tournament for teams from across the nation.  Small student teams are welcome from any geographic location within NZ.  Based on previous years, we anticipate involvement by over 100 students (mostly these have been university students, but we also welcome intermediate and high school students).  In 2016, we had a team of intermediate school students who placed second in the first round.  Every year, we host two competitions: a pre-competition and a New Zealand robot soccer championship at the University of Auckland. The purpose of the pre-competition is giving participants the opportunity to test their systems, practice the setup the systems, and learn how the play the robot soccer game. The NZ championship is the official competition approved by the FIRA (Federation of International Robot-soccer Association), and the best students each year have been invited to join to the World Robot Soccer Championship as representative players for NZ.  Key sponsors of the event are the IEEE New Zealand North Section and University of Auckland.

Students can learn a lot from participating, and practice their skills in programming, system design, AI methods, vision processing, controlling, communication, etc. The University of Auckland can lend all the required equipment for free including robot systems, cameras, PCs, the grounds, basic software, which includes simulation and a Graphic User Interface.  Also, we provide free regular workshops to teach students and teams how to use the robots, how to use the software and how to enjoy their experience.

If you would like to be involved with Robot Soccer or would like to find out more please contact Dr Ho Seok Ahn.