soccer	rescue	dance

RoboCupJunior offers several challenges, each emphasizing both cooperative and task-achievement aspects.

• The soccer game, played with two robots per team, involves a dynamic environment in which teams of autonomous mobile robots play games in a field that is color-coded in shades of gray.

• The rescue challenge engages robots to identify victims quickly and accurately within recreated disaster scenarios that vary in complexity from line-following on a flat surface to negotiating paths through obstacles on uneven terrain.

• The robot dance emphasizes creativity, bringing one or more robots together with music, dressed in costume and moving alone or with humans.

For young students, the RCJ initiative provides an exciting introduction to the field of robotics, a new way to develop technical abilities through hands-on experience with electronics, hardware and software, and a highly motivating opportunity to learn about teamwork while sharing technology with friends. In contrast to the one-child-one-computer scenario typically seen today, RoboCupJunior provides a unique opportunity for participants with a variety of interests and strengths to work together as a team to achieve a common goal.

Detailed information on rules for the challenges can be found on the RoboCupJunior web site.