8th Annual RoboGames Fast Approaching

Robots are the “ultimate mix of analog sensing [and] driving, and digital logic, processing, and communications.”

The quote above came from Cypress Semiconductor's Jim Davis who recently wrote the article “Robots in the Military, Brave, Autonomous, and Dispensable Warriors” for the Project Robotics ebook. In context, Davis was writing about the challenges associated with developing combat robots, but I think the description also applies to the robotic machines set to compete next month in the 8th Annual RoboGames.

This year's event will be held April 15 to 17 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds, in — not surprisingly — San Mateo, CA. The event also serves as a symposium for robotics papers and a global stage for robotics innovation.

At the games, robotic athletes and by proxy their creators compete in dozens of events and classes including humanoid robot kung-fu, bipedal racing, bot hockey, robotic soccer, autonomous navigation, and gladiator-style mechanized combat.

The events pit well sponsored, corporate teams; university-based teams; and amateur enthusiasts — many of whom are moonlighting electric engineers from Silicon Valley firms — against each other in ways that inspire and motivate.

Last year's event features some 508 robots from 17 different countries, representing 181 distinct teams, peopled by more than 600 engineers.

Robots square off in San Mateo from Monica Jensen on Vimeo.

Returning Champions

There will be several robots to watch for at this year's games. Among these are bots like Ziggy, which won the 340-pound combat event, which also challenged the San Francisco 49er's place kicker, Joe Nedney, to a promotional field-goal-kicking competition shortly before the 2010 games.

Also worth watching will be Taiwan's Robotinno soccer team, which won the gold medal in last year's bipedal soccer tournament. The Robotinno humanoid robots are actually for sale from Innovati, which plans to make another strong finish this year.

Armando Roggio