[Jeonseungmin's Science World] The Challenges Left by the Robot Soccer Tournament

Can robots beat humans? At first glance, one might think robots are stronger than people. The reality is different. In terms of physical ability and stamina, humans have an absolute advantage. Imagine creating a humanoid fighting robot using all available scientific technologies. That robot would likely struggle to defeat even a middle school student.

Artist Jeon Seung-min

Despite these challenges, there are people who strive to challenge humans with robots. A representative field is ‘soccer.’ Recently, there have been real ‘robot soccer tournaments’ where robots with two legs like humans perform shooting, dribbling, and passing, and the most prestigious of these is ‘RoboCup.’ The goal of this competition is to have a robot team defeat the human World Cup soccer champion by 2050.

This year’s RoboCup was held in Bangkok, Thailand, over four days starting from the 13th. The winning team must excel in machine control technology above all else. The German team ‘NimbRo’ won the ‘Adult League,’ where human-sized robots compete. The Japanese team ‘CIT Brains’ won the ‘Kids League,’ where the competition is among small robots about several tens of centimeters tall. This indicates that engineering powerhouses lead the competition.

Korea’s results have not been very good. However, there was some progress this year. The HERoEHS team, led by Professor Jae-Kwon Han of Hanyang University, reached the finals of the Adult League and took second place. The ‘Robit’ team from Kwangwoon University also performed well, finishing fourth in the Kids League, showing hope for the future.

It is difficult to create a ‘proper robot’ without both artificial intelligence and mechanical technology. However, compared to the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, mechanical engineering has developed relatively slowly. To prepare for an advanced future society, attention must be paid to resolving this imbalance. It is crucial to secure mechanical engineering technology that is not behind Germany, Japan, or the United States. Now is the time to strengthen strategic investment in this area.

Seungmin Jeon, Science and Technology Writer