From July 5 – 11, Turkey was home to RoboCup 2011, one of the major events on the annual robotic calendar. RoboCup is the robotic version of the soccer World Cup that draws robot research teams from across the globe.

This year, a total of 24 teams from various countries competed for a chance to claim robotic glory. They came from America, Germany, Japan, France, China, Thailand, Iran, Mexico, Taiwan, and many other countries. These teams put together highly advanced robots that vied for top spot in three main soccer skills: sideline throw-ins, passing, and dribbling to avoid objects.

From a vast pool of international talent, Tamkang’s Robot Research Team finished second. Their result was capped off with a noteworthy performance in the dribbling exercise, being the only group to successfully complete the obstacle course. This earned them gasps of amazement and loud cheers.

The TKU Robot Research Team is supervised by TKU professor Dr. Wong Ching-chang, and captained by 4th year PhD candidate Hu Yue-yang.