What is RoboCup?
RoboCup is the world championship in robotic soccer – it has been held every year since 1997. During a preliminary tryout in 1996, later called Pre RoboCup, the first "league" was formed: in the simulation league a team of 11 virtual players contends against another similar team. All action occurs in a simulated field managed by a computer. Later on, leagues of genuine robots were introduced: in the small-size league five robots play against another five in a field 2.9 meters long by 2.4 meters wide (size of the field as of 2002); in the mid-size league four robots play against four robots in a field 10 by 5 meters large (as of 2002). The main difference between both leagues is the size of the field, the size of the robots themselves,  and its autonomy. In the small-size league the robots have a maximum diameter of 18 cm, in the mid-size league the maximum cross section of a robot is 50 cm. The small robots play using the information provided by a camera placed 3 meters above the field, whereas the midsize robots carry their own cameras and other kinds of sensors. Starting in 1999, the Legged League was formed in which the Sony AIBO robotic dogs struggle three against three.  Finally, in 2001 the first RoboCup rescue competition was held. Here, as in the simulation league, a virtual world is managed by a computer and teams compete trying to save virtual characters in a disaster scenario. The challenge consists in scheduling and managing scarce rescue resources in the most effective way. A humanoid league is planned for the immediate future. Robots resembling humans will then play against each other in order to reach the declared goal of the RoboCup initiative: to build robots that can beat the human world soccer champions by the year 2050.

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