The goalkeeper may be their secret weapon. It's faster and more manoeuvrable and even has a third eye, a Kinect sensor (as used in the Xbox). That means it can see balls heading towards it at an early stage and in 3-D. It also has a flexible rack than can be raised and moved to the left and right to block shots at goal.

Passing has been improved too and technical coach Roel Merry expects great things from the team's combined abilities. In spring they won the European title, this summer the world!

Only one human
Robot footballers all move on three wheels driven by batteries. They are equipped with an advanced shooting mechanism, sensors and multiple cameras. Intelligent programming means they can act independently on the pitch. They communicate by wireless internet and no human control is involved. In fact, the humans in the audience are not allowed to influence their robots. No joysticks, no radio control. Roel Merry calls it "autonomous robo-football".

The only human on the pitch is the referee and his decisions are entered into computer and communicated to the robots. All the normal rules apply so there are corners, throw-ins, free kicks and penalties.

In between matches the technicians get busy fixing and improving everything they can: software, tyres, manoeuvrability, shooting mechanisms, mirrors, cameras and so on.

Higher purpose
The coach is particularly worried about the 'Water' team from China who beat the Dutch in the final in Singapore last year. The Germans, Portuguese and Iranians are also formidable opponents.

World Cup victory is only the immediate goal. The higher purpose of robot soccer is the development of robots for the care and industrial sectors. Roel Merry explains:

"A football pitch is a fast-changing, highly dynamic environment. So the robots have to make decisions for themselves, partly. If you can perfect the technology you could apply it in healthcare, for instance. In centres or in the home, wherever you need robots to react to their environment."

(imm)