China Hosts First Fully Autonomous AI Robot Football Match (theguardian.com) 15
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Four teams of humanoid robots took each other on in Beijing [on Saturday], in games of three-a-side powered by artificial intelligence. While the modern game has faced accusations of becoming near-robotic in its obsession with tactical perfection, the games in China showed that AI won't be taking Kylian Mbappe's job just yet. Footage of the humanoid kickabout showed the robots struggling to kick the ball or stay upright, performing pratfalls that would have earned their flesh-and-blood counterparts a yellow card for diving. At least two robots were stretchered off after failing to regain their feet after going to ground.
[...] The competition was fought between university teams, which adapted the robots with their own algorithms. In the final match, Tsinghua University's THU Robotics defeated the China Agricultural University's Mountain Sea team with a score of 5-3 to win the championship. One Tsinghua supporter celebrated their victory while also praising the competition. "They [THU] did really well," he said. "But the Mountain Sea team was also impressive. They brought a lot of surprises." Cheng Hao, CEO of Booster Robotics, said he envisions future matches between humans and robots, though he acknowledges current robots still lag behind in performance. He also said safety will need to be a top priority.
You can watch highlights of the match on YouTube.
[...] The competition was fought between university teams, which adapted the robots with their own algorithms. In the final match, Tsinghua University's THU Robotics defeated the China Agricultural University's Mountain Sea team with a score of 5-3 to win the championship. One Tsinghua supporter celebrated their victory while also praising the competition. "They [THU] did really well," he said. "But the Mountain Sea team was also impressive. They brought a lot of surprises." Cheng Hao, CEO of Booster Robotics, said he envisions future matches between humans and robots, though he acknowledges current robots still lag behind in performance. He also said safety will need to be a top priority.
You can watch highlights of the match on YouTube.
Kind of like today's coding AI (Score:3)
These robots resemble a soccer match, they kind of kick the ball towards the goal. They *definitely* fall down a lot, and sometimes have to be carted off the field on a stretcher.
Yeah, pretty much like coding AI.
Still, pretty amazing, and perhaps even comical.
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Sounds more interesting than human soccer matches.
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Deep mind has been doing that form factor for years now [youtube.com], and they look decent.
Non-American football (Score:2)
Ah, football in the non-American sense. I was really looking forward to robots playing American football. Now that would be impressive, since it would have elements of BattleBots ... well, minus the saws and hammers and flame throwers. Of course, the real question is whether robots playing American football would have to wear pads and helmets.
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Thanks, I now have a mental picture of a bunch of robots wearing old school leather helmets and t-shirts, rolling around for 10 seconds and being interrupted by a 2 minute timeout.
Then they roll around again for 15 seconds.
Another 2 minute timeout.
Then they roll around for 12 seconds.
Then another timeout...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Ah, football in the non-American sense. I was really looking forward to robots playing American football. Now that would be impressive, since it would have elements of BattleBots ... well, minus the saws and hammers and flame throwers. Of course, the real question is whether robots playing American football would have to wear pads and helmets.
Who says they don't keep the saws and hammers and flamethrowers? That'd be one way to keep the game interesting. Especially if it remains legal to use the weapons on the refs.
It's the only way... (Score:3)
old farts (Score:2)
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What I am concerned about.. (Score:1)
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Dictatorships have a command economy, so they're actually in a better position to make good investments. But I would consider the election cycle the bigger problem. America turns over the ball every 4 years while CCP has been in power for essentially forever.
Grandpas of Terminator... (Score:2)
Grandpas of Terminator...
Once they get good at soccer... they will be useful on battlefield as well..