A penalty shoot out with a difference -- robots doing the kicking

Oct 24, 2005

A soccer penalty shoot out with a difference was conducted at the University of Wollongong last week (Friday 21 October) when robots took to the field to do the kicking.

The School of Information Technology and Computer Science conducted its robot builders competition.

Eleven teams of students had been building Lego robots to compete in this year's competition.

The task set for the competition was a penalty shoot out. Each robot was given 10 shots at the goal.

A ball was placed on a line across the field. The robot was placed so that the ball was between it and the end of the field. The robot had to find the ball, find the goal and then kick the ball through the goal.

For each shot, the ball was placed in a different place from directly in front of the goal to near the sides of the field. Each team had a 15 minute time slot in which to compete with the team that achieved the most goals winning the competition.