A different kind of soccer: The RoboCup 2023 event in Hamburg

24 April 2023, by Anna Priebe

Photo: Florian Vahl/Bit-Bots

The Universität Hamburg team has successfully taken part in the robot championships games (here in 2022) for several years.

If you never caught the spirit of soccer or felt alienated by the commercialization of professional soccer, this April holds an opportunity to (re)discover this sport. Mark your calender for some GORE robot soccer action in Hamburg from 27–30 April 2023, including University robots.

Hamburg’s players are 82 centimeters tall and play, therefore, in the so-called “Humanoid Kid-Size League.” The robots were trained and set up by the members of the student working group Hamburg Bit-Bots, which was also funded through the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments.

What makes the robots special is that they compete autonomously, meaning without remote control. In addition to the humanoid league, there is also the “Standard Platform League,” in which all teams use the same type of robot.

Commentators explain strategy and technology

“RoboCup is a competition to foster robotics research—with a special focus on humanoid robots,” explains Jasper Güldenstein, doctoral researcher in the Department of Informatics and a robot trainer. The German Open Replacement Event (GORE) is one of several RoboCup competitions that take place the world over.

At GORE, expert commentators explain to the viewers why the robots behave as they do and what is behind the technology. This makes the world of RoboCup comprehensible to those not otherwise familiar with robotics.

Organized by students

“We are organizing GORE together with the HULKS from the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and the RoboCup team from TU Dortmund,” says Güldenstein. There are 12 robot teams entering the competition, which will take place in the CFEL building at Luruper Chaussee 149 in Science City Bahrenfeld and is being co-organized by DESY. The event is free and once again, there will be a livestream for those who cannot attend in person.