World Cup celebrations inspire Plymouth University squad ahead of RoboCup 2013

They are among the greatest World Cup winning celebrations of all time. Now a new crop of sports stars are hoping their recreation of the euphoria displayed by England’s Bobby Moore in 1966, and Spain’s Andres Iniesta in 2010, will help them take the world of robot football by storm this summer.

The Plymouth University team are one of only two from the UK preparing to take on the world’s best at Robocup in the Netherlands from June 26 to 30, and they are full of confidence following their tournament debut in Mexico in 2012.

Dr Phil Culverhouse, from the University’s Centre for Robotics & Neural Systems, said: “Plymouth has been a pioneering force in the field of humanoid robotics for more than 15 years, and the new ‘Drake’ robots are the latest exciting evolution in that process. Our robots have been re-designed since Mexico 2012 and we have high hopes of getting a better placing than last year. We have improved battery life and reliability, and with our team of three players and two reserves, we are confident injuries will not get in the way of a successful tournament.”

The current crop of players are following in the footsteps of Usain Volt and The Mobot, who along with their team took the robot sport world by storm last summer in the wake of the London Olympics.

Their successes included winning gold in the marathon and silver in the sprint events at the FIRA International RoboWorld Cup athletics competition held in Bristol in August 2012.

Dr Culverhouse added: “The technology we use can be deployed in many elements of everyday life, including the manufacture of toys and home service robots. The engineering knowledge and skills our students learn while developing the Plymouth Humanoids is second to none and they have gone on to employment right across the world.”

A team of engineers, including students and researchers who have been responsible for the robot development, will accompany the team to the competition.

For more about the robot football team, visit http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/robotfootball or https://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/University-of-Plymouth-Robot-Football/148285347160.