Video: Robots make soccer even more boring
posted at 4:03 pm on June 7, 2007 by Bryan
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It’s the Robocup, the competition in which teams design and build autonomous soccer playin’ robots and have them face off against each other in a variety of skill and speed tests. As none of those tests involve robots leaping, firing projectiles or dismembering each other, it never quite reaches the interest level of Ninja Warrior. The technology driving these bots is actually pretty impressive, even if seeing it in action is…less than impressive.
There’s a lot more video at the link.
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OK, I’m officially renouncing my geekdom.
Kini on June 7, 2007 at 4:09 PM
Hey, soccer’s cool. Infinitely more interesting than baseball, that’s for sure…
Patriot33 on June 7, 2007 at 4:10 PM
I’m a die hard European soccer fan, but robots? That’s why we have the MLS
danarchy on June 7, 2007 at 4:12 PM
Good news, now SkyNet’s forces can be defeated by a particularly friendly Labrador!
Number 2 on June 7, 2007 at 4:12 PM
Reminds me of The Simpsons
Fast fwd to about 1:45 in.
F15Mech on June 7, 2007 at 4:13 PM
I’m just happy there is another Arsenal supporter here!
rhuppertz on June 7, 2007 at 4:16 PM
What, no humping?
Kid from Brooklyn on June 7, 2007 at 4:25 PM
Football (Soccer) rocks, it’ll take over American in a couple of years – and simultaneously America will take it over
Baphomet on June 7, 2007 at 4:29 PM
Or vice versa.
RedWinged Blackbird on June 7, 2007 at 4:29 PM
Look.
We have robots talking.
Decapitated moon-bat bots.
freakishly large baby robots.
Robots playing soccer.
Where are the frickin’ humping robots that we know and love?!?!
Geesh!
lorien1973 on June 7, 2007 at 4:33 PM
Soccer, to me, is probably one of the most fun sports to play, and great exercise too.
Nonfactor on June 7, 2007 at 4:38 PM
Yeah but this “boring” soccer will make it all more amazing if they can really put together a competive robot soccer team in 2050. Though they will have to wear shirts so they can take them off after a goal. Ouch can you imagine getting tripped by a robot?
Drtuddle on June 7, 2007 at 4:40 PM
Playing soccer–I’m there. Watching soccer–I’m somewhere else.
Bryan on June 7, 2007 at 4:41 PM
About a year ago I started watching the Premiership Football and it’s actually a lot better than I thought it would be; you can really get involved in it once you follow the teams. But yeah, playing soccer (and I think just about any sport) is more fun than watching it.
Nonfactor on June 7, 2007 at 4:45 PM
The male imagination +
Robotic technology in the year 2050
Imagine
Halley on June 7, 2007 at 4:45 PM
I’m waiting on the day where I can go to a bar and watch a soccer match, or go to a full stadium and see a soccer game. Right now when you mention soccer people just look at you weird.
I remember being in New York this winter and being in a bar owned by an old Ukrainian guy and soccer was playing–how it should be.
Nonfactor on June 7, 2007 at 4:48 PM
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! Snore….
soulsirkus on June 7, 2007 at 4:52 PM
Come on Bryan…let her have her humping robots! She’s been askin’ for quite some time now!
heatherrc77 on June 7, 2007 at 4:53 PM
Soccer, to me, is a game of mediocrity. Remember the latest world cup? Like 30% of games ended in a tie. No -real- game ends in a tie. The scores are something like 1-0, 2-1 and you watch for 90 minutes? Come on. It’s just not interesting. The players flop at the smallest touch trying to draw a penalty; and there is no (real) clock, so you aren’t really sure when the game is over. I don’t get the fascination with the game.
I used to play it as a kid and it was fun. But the professional sport? It’s death.
lorien1973 on June 7, 2007 at 4:55 PM
There fixed that for you.
KelliD on June 7, 2007 at 4:55 PM
It seems to me that humping robots is more an Ace thing.
KelliD on June 7, 2007 at 4:56 PM
You gatta good point Bryan, playing any sport is much more fun than watching.
Except, maybe, paint drying, grass growing, water boiling, spin cycle in the washer, and my personal favorite, snow on the TV screen!
Kini on June 7, 2007 at 4:58 PM
Good camera angles close to the action where you can really see the ball moving and watch the player work his way through trouble is fun to watch. Or the unfolding of a great set play that results into a goal. But you have to go through a lot of mundane play to get to the prize. But yeah I mean I rather watch Roy Williams tag a skinny wide reciever over the middle!
Drtuddle on June 7, 2007 at 4:58 PM
Soccer proponents have been saying that for nearly 40 years now, and guess what – it still hasn’t happened.
Don’t hold your breath.
thirteen28 on June 7, 2007 at 5:01 PM
Actually those robots remind me of the 6 and under teams I use to referee back in the day. Even the scientist guys trying to walk on to the field and help the robot. Just like the parents. “Yellow card lady! Back off!” Flash back sorry!
Drtuddle on June 7, 2007 at 5:01 PM
meh, I liked the soccerbots. For some reason I couldn’t help but crack up everytime one of them fell over. It’s just so… anti-climactic! :)
dead-duck on June 7, 2007 at 5:02 PM
Riiiight. Just like cycling said it would (pre-Lance). Remember the Tour de Trump? Then it was the Tour Dupont… Then it was the Tour Where-did-it-go.
Editor on June 7, 2007 at 5:08 PM
Will the losing team be disassembled by enraged fans armed with screwdrivers and blow torches?
fogw on June 7, 2007 at 5:09 PM
BTW…I’m let down that I have found out there are Gunner fans writing this. I thought Arsene was a robot at first :) Go Blues!
danarchy on June 7, 2007 at 5:21 PM
keep tancredo away from those robots. he’ll stomp them to pieces.
jummy on June 7, 2007 at 5:24 PM
jummy on June 7, 2007 at 5:27 PM
I think the action is great no matter the score. I don’t like ties like anyone else, but that’s just part of the game (although I’m sure it’ll be changed sometime in the future to make penalty kicks at the end mandatory).
Diving sucks, but it’s a penalty if you get caught. People say the same thing about baseball–”common, it’s just not interesting”–but I still find that enjoyable too. It might just be me.
That’s the thing. You watch English football and the camera is great in a great stadium etc., but then you watch MLS and the field looks horrible and there are hardly any people in the crowd…ehh.
Nonfactor on June 7, 2007 at 5:27 PM
jummy on June 7, 2007 at 5:31 PM
Well, that was 3 minutes I’ll never get back. NOW, you put those babies doing rock em sock em robots and I’d watch it!
csdeven on June 7, 2007 at 5:39 PM
I played soccer for two years in high school and the only time I wasn’t bored was when I was actually in the game.
I don’t know what it is about the sport either. It seems like it should be very exciting and attention grabbing, but, it just….isn’t. *shrug*
I watched the World Cup last year and the only moment I really enjoyed was when Zidane head-butted the Italian(?) player – and every soccer fan that I was watching with was absolutely horrified at what he had done.
Soccer and hockey both suffer from being low-scoring games where the teams spend most of the time in a 0-0 tie. Hockey solves this problem by including bloody fist fights. Soccer’s going to have to come up with something similar before it’s embraced by the U.S.
JadeNYU on June 7, 2007 at 6:03 PM
Somehow soccer players don’t strike me as the brawling type.
My proposal: Ban the goalie and maybe allow shoulder checking. It might be remotely watchable if the final score were 18-20 instead of 0-1 and there was at least a little violence involved. Until then, expect it to be considered a sport for children and women in the US.
Hollowpoint on June 7, 2007 at 6:12 PM
Hollowpoint on June 7, 2007 at 6:12 PM
How about a goal = 6 pts and then you get a penalty kick for an extra point?
Drtuddle on June 7, 2007 at 6:16 PM
When the Nimbro guy couldn’t get up it reminded me of me on Sunday mornings. Or maybe any morning
Drtuddle on June 7, 2007 at 6:18 PM
That’s what I was thinking. Pad the score the way they do in football. So, even if the score is low in reality, it looks good up on the scoreboard.
Of course, there still needs to be the added element of violence. It’s present in football but not in soccer. I don’t think people will start watching soccer unless the violence is added in.
Yeah, they don’t strike me as the brawling type either. But, that’s probably because all the brawlers have been driven from the game. What we need is for the WWF to make an XSL (because it worked so well for football…lol). There should be a bonus 3 points for the first team that causes the other team to bleed (but you lose 3 points if you’ve caused permanent damage…that way the injuries won’t be life threatening).
JadeNYU on June 7, 2007 at 6:21 PM
Holy man made corundum Batman, that had a retard factor so high the Bat computer just went into a fatal infinite loop trying to calculate it.
doriangrey on June 7, 2007 at 6:33 PM
I find it hilarous when those robots try to kick the ball but miss and fall over. I know computer programing and robotics is complicated, but come on! What is there to “calculate” when the ball is standing still!
I played soccer and it is fun. The problem is the rules are not designed to make it fun for fans. They should remove players from the game for 10 minutes at a time instead of useless penalty kicks al. That would go a long way to solving the sport’s problems. The way it is now penalties are useless and sometimes even done on purpose just to interupt play. This is why fans never think the games are fair.
Resolute on June 7, 2007 at 6:33 PM
Bryan forgot the nanogram league even more boring!
Drtuddle on June 7, 2007 at 6:34 PM
heh @ the nanobots. Why am I thinking “flea circus”? ;)
dead-duck on June 7, 2007 at 6:46 PM
Gold Cup for the US MNT tonight…do your patriotic duty and support the Stars and Stripes. FSC 9ET (Or for me, taped after I watch The Finals).
Patriot33 on June 7, 2007 at 7:15 PM
Awesome. Soon, no man will have to suffer the tedium of playing soccer. Then they can invent robots to watch the robot games, and we’ll be free of this “soccer” thing at last.
saint kansas on June 8, 2007 at 5:38 AM
Did they all grab at their knee joint and roll around in simulated agony?
James on June 8, 2007 at 7:17 AM
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