You may have heard about a massive international competition going on right now, bringing together some highly-skilled individuals, one that’s happening right here in Montreal.
No, not the World Cup — the RoboCup.
The robotics world has descended on the Palais des Congrès for what is basically that domain’s World Cup. The RoboCup brings together 3,000 people from 35 countries for some intense competition.
“Behind the movement of the robots, you have a lot of intelligence, a lot of programming,” said Maarouf Saad, co-chair of this year’s event and a professor at Montreal’s École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS).
Teams from Japan, China, Germany, Australia, Taiwan, Thailand and France are among those competing.
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The RoboCup hosts various types of soccer tournaments, with robots that vary in build and size trying their best to put a ball in a net.
There are also different obstacle courses where robots have to read their surroundings. Global News caught up with a competitor from Iran who was practicing for one of the obstacle courses and had high hopes for his team.
“I think they can be the world champions,” said Abolfazi ArdeshirTanha of Tehran. “I think they are the best.”
In another area, robots have to prove their ability to take commands from people in a home setting. All week, robot lovers, ranging from elementary school students to PhD students, are battling it out for international dominance.
“With Croatia, we have seven different teams in the competition,” said Ivica Kolaric, one of the educators with the Croatian team.
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While older competitors create the most human-like robots, the younger demographic have some of the most creative.
“This is a robots that uses motors to play different keys and make a song,” explained Alessandro Chiby, a grade 6 student from Pierre Elliot Trudeau Elementary in Rosemont. He had been working on his piano-playing robot the entire school year. The robot played part of a song from Star Wars.
His classmates have created a robotic late-night show host that will introduce the musical guest in front of judges.
The group of students learned all their robotics skills in French class.
“They can talk, they can resolve problems, but everything is in French,” explained their teacher Patrick Charland.
Another team from Dalkeith Elementary in Anjou came with dancing robots and a robot DJ.
“They’re in grade 6 so it’s their last week of school,” said Dalkeith teacher Julia Galteri. “They get to bond with their closest friends and learn new things, meet new people.”
The competition is stiff. A team of young Portuguese students came with a dancing Super Mario and Luigi that do math as they dance.
“It is a social and educational robot,” said Portuguese elementary school student Eleonor Silva.
Team Russia brought an elaborate invention based on a Russian fairy tale.
“We bring it here so other countries will know something about our culture,” said Grigorii Vydrevich, who explained the robot to Global News.
Organizers believe at least one world-changing idea is gestating in one of the competitors.
The RoboCup goes at the Palais des Congrès until June 22nd.
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