Tech Podcast: Germans prepare for RoboCup 2010

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Tech Podcast: Germans prepare for RoboCup 2010

By The World ⋅ February 26, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

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Sure, there are lots of hard-hitting tech stories we could lead with in this week’s Technology Podcast. But when you have a listener-generated item on kid-sized humanoid robots playing soccer, I think it’s pretty clear how you’re going to kick-off (oooh, sorry) the show. Listener Tam Eastley at the Free University of Berlin told her friend Stefan Otte to email me about FUmanoids, a team at the university that is working on robotic soccer players. Currently ranked second in the world to the Darmstadt Dribblers, FUmanoids are looking ahead to RoboCup 2010 in Singapore. We get Stefan on Skype to chat about how these pint-sized players work in teams to try to score goals, etc. My favorite quote, “People mostly kind-of like to watch the robots fall down.” And based on the video below, there’s plenty of that. However, to give credit where credit is due, think about how far robotics have come in the last five years alone, let alone the last 25 years. I think what the robots are doing in the video is pretty amazing. The goal of RoboCup, by the way, is to field a robotic team that can beat human players by the year 2050.

Here are some other links from the show that may be of interest:

Remember, you can check out our travel podcast, which this week features a cool segment on Google Maps and Russian Railways joint project to create a virtual Trans-Siberian Railway. As I also mentioned, my colleague Rhitu Chatterjee has a podcast segment, and is running a World Science Forum, on the psychology of suicide bombers.

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Discussion

4 comments for “Tech Podcast: Germans prepare for RoboCup 2010”

http://hifranc.livejournal.com/ Francisco

Re: Google conviction in Italy

The Guardian’s Media Talk podcast made a good point about the conviction. They commented that, if you accept that Google are guilty, then phone company execs are guilty if a subscriber happens to use that telephone for criminal purposes. The only way not to be found guilty is not to let anyone use the telephone.

Similarly, a few weeks ago, in relation to another case, an antipodean commentator pointed out that, if you hold ISPs and internet companies responsible for the actions of their users then you’ll have to hold the employees of the Transport Department responsible for the fact that a killer moved around using the road network. If the latter is a rediculous example then the former is too.

http://www.theworld.org Clark Boyd

Hey Francisco —

Thanks for stopping by and giving those examples.

http://hifranc.livejournal.com/ Francisco

You’re welcome.

http://www.crowswoodconsulting.com Don Rideaux-Crenshaw

Forget about 2050. Those little dudes ready for MLS right now.

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