Penn students and faculty are gearing up for RoboCup 2010, billed as “the world’s largest robotics and artificial-intelligence event,” with more than 400 teams from dozens of countries – including Germany, Japan, China and Slovenia – competing in a World Cup-like robotics soccer tournament. The competition will be held June 19 to 25 at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Suntec City, Singapore. The program also includes a symposium and exhibitions. 

The UPennalizers, Penn’s robotic soccer team, is fielding teams in two of the five divisions. Two of their soccer-playing robots are Mr. Clean and Febreeze.

Aside from dishing out robotics bragging rights, RoboCup organizers are aimed at promoting advancements in robotics technology that will enable a team of two-legged robots to defeat a human soccer team by 2050.

Dan Lee, associate professor of electrical and systems engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and a member of the GRASP Lab, advises the UPennalizers in their Standard Platform League. All entrants work with identical, state-of-the art, 22-inch-tall robots, but must write their own computer programs to guide them.

In the spirit of advancing the field, participants will release the codes for their robot brains to the public after the competition is complete.

Faculty and student engineers used visual cues, color recognition and a host of algorithms to model their players’ behavior, building on the work of past undergraduates to keep their three-man squad playing like a team.

The UPennalizers are scheduled to leave for Singapore on Thursday, June 17.

For a front page article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about Penn and RoboCup 2010, click here.