Georgia Tech Scores RoboCup 2007 for Atlanta
Georgia Tech Scores RoboCup 2007 for Atlanta
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The Georgia Institute of Technology has been selected to host RoboCup 2007, the world's most renowned research competition among custom-built robots and their designers. RoboCup 2007 Atlanta, scheduled for July 1-10, 2007, marks the first time that the event, featuring simulated soccer and search-and-rescue competitions, will be hosted entirely on a college campus and only the second time in the United States. Past host cities for the international tournament include Paris (1998), Seattle (2001), Lisbon (2004), Osaka, Japan (2005) and Bremen, Germany (2006).
"As host of RoboCup 2007, Georgia Tech welcomes the international robotics community to Atlanta," said Georgia Tech College of Computing Associate Professor and RoboCup 2007 Atlanta General Chair Tucker Balch. "Over the past few years, Georgia Tech has emerged as a global leader in robotics research and innovation, based upon its partnerships with industry leaders and our strengths in interactive and intelligent computing. By hosting the 11th annual RoboCup competition, Georgia Tech will have a great opportunity to showcase the technology leadership of the Institute and the City of Atlanta to researchers and scientists worldwide."
RoboCup 2007 Atlanta will include approximately 218 senior robotic teams, and 140 junior teams from over 20 countries. These international teams will participate in soccer games and search-and-rescue missions, testing the limits in artificial intelligence and robotics research. The annual event, with sponsors including Lockheed Martin and CITIZEN, involves about 1500 students and faculty from leading universities around the world, as well as 500 middle school and high school students.
This year's RoboCup event will also feature the debut of the Nanogram League, a competition between microscopic robots. The MEMs (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) in competition can only be viewed via microscope, but attendees will be able to watch the contest via a magnified broadcast shown on large screens throughout the event.
The overall mission of the RoboCup research and education initiative is to foster artificial intelligence and robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can be examined and integrated. The international project has a founding goal of developing a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can win against the human World Cup champion team by the year 2050.
RoboCup 2007 Atlanta invites the public to Georgia Tech to watch as teams put their robots to work competing in realistic search-and-rescue demonstrations, as well as four-legged and humanoid soccer games.
