RoboGames on the Horizon
February 18, 2010
(SPORTS TECHNOLOGY)
RoboGames, the largest robot competition and Expo in the United States, is all set to host its seventh annual international event, from April 23 to 25, 2010. The venue of the grand event will be the San Mateo County Expo Center.
RoboGames has invited the best minds from all around the world to take part in the 70 most exciting robot events. The fun filled events will showcase hundreds of robots competing in Combat robots, walking humanoids, soccer bots, sumo bots and even androids that do kung-fu. Most of the robots participating in the events either will be autonomous or remote controlled. There also will be various demonstrations by leading robotics industry designers and engineers.
The seventh annual international event at the San Mateo Expo Center will see thousands of contestants and more than 500 robots. The competing robots (participants) this year can be as small and tiny as 1-inch square autonomous robots, hockey- and soccer-playing humanoid robots, art robots and everything in between. It would indeed be a fun-filled moment for the spectators to watch 340 combat robots flip their opponents 15 feet into the air, breathe fire and spin blades sharp enough to cut through one-inch thick steel like butter.
“From year to year, it’s inspiring to witness the increasingly global impact of RoboGames. Just last year, for example, both the gold medal-winning Indonesian firefighting team and Mexican RoboSumo team had the honor of meeting their home countries’ respective Presidents,” said David Calkins, co-founder of RoboGames. “We are really excited to be entering the seventh year of this truly one-of-a-kind event, and can’t wait to watch as thousands of tech enthusiasts, sports fans, robot engineers and more converge to enjoy this year’s RoboGames.”
The RoboGames formerly named as Robolympics will leave no stone unturned in making the 2010 RoboGames a perfect delight for the spectators. The highlights of the event include:
• Combots and Sumo wrestling bots
• Soccer bots, acrobatic androids, basketball bots and hockey bots
• Fire-fighting bot competitions and autonomous explorer bots
• Robots that make cocktails, art bot sculptures, dancing bots and, of course, the people who build them
By participating in the varied open robot competition various builders from combat robotics (mechanical engineering) soccer robotics (computer programming), sumo robotics (sensors), androids (motion control) and art robots (aesthetics), robot builders can exchange ideas and learn more. Moreover, RoboGames also recognizes engineers around the world in varying disciplines with consistent rule-sets and low-cost or free contestant fees.
In related news, in the RoboGames of 2009, Mexican students grabbed six medals.
Deepika Mala is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Michael Dinan
