RoboCup Federation

The 26th Portuguese Robotics Open (ROBOTICA 2026), a RoboCup-sponsored local event, will take place from April 23–25, 2026, in Barcelos, Portugal. Promoted by leading institutions — Universidade de Aveiro, Universidade do Porto, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Universidade de Coimbra, and Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave — the event will be held at the Pavilhão Municipal. ROBOTICA 2026 runs in parallel with the National Robotics Festival (FNR’2026) and ICARSC 2026, strengthening Portugal’s role in robotics research and education. More information: https://lnkd.in/ePw4-RhA | icarsc.pt/2026

🚀 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗖𝘂𝗽 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 – 𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗲! We’re thrilled to announce that the 𝟮𝟯𝗿𝗱 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗖𝘂𝗽 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 will take place from 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟭𝟬–𝟭𝟰, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲, at the 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗿, Germany! Join us in one of Europe’s most vibrant cities — Cologne, a hub of innovation, culture, and history. From the majestic 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗹 (𝗨𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗖𝗢 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲) to lively riverside cafés and world-class museums, the city offers an inspiring backdrop for this premier robotics competition. 🤖 𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀 (𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀): • RoboCup Humanoid Soccer League • RoboCup Soccer Small Size League • RoboCup Rescue Robot League • RoboCup Industrial Smart Manufacturing League • RoboCup@Home League 🏁 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀: Team setup: March 10 Competitions: March 11–14 📅 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀: Registration opens: 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 Registration deadline: 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟯𝟭, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 Late registration (team members only): 𝗙𝗲𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟴, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 💡𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲: RoboCup German Open will be 𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 didacta 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲, Europe’s largest education fair, giving participants access to a rich ecosystem of over 700 exhibitors from 60+ countries. In addition, the 𝟮𝗻𝗱 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗜-𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 organized by the Robotics Institute Germany will be held 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟭𝟭–𝟭𝟯, offering cutting-edge insights into the future of intelligent robotics. Teams are encouraged to book accommodation early — Cologne will be buzzing with innovation, learning, and excitement! 🔗 Learn more and plan your participation: https://lnkd.in/gbs2pGhv #RoboCup #RoboCupGermanOpen #RoboCupGermany #Robotik #KI #Wissenschaft #MINT #RIG #didacta

RoboCup Asia-Pacific 2025 kicks off today in Abu Dhabi! 🤖 For the first time, Abu Dhabi is hosting RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP) 2025, taking place from 10–15 November at the ADNEC Centre. More than 1,900 competitors from 21 countries will bring artificial intelligence to life through soccer matches, rescue challenges, and performance robotics during Abu Dhabi Autonomous Week. Today marked the registration and warm-up day for the Major Leagues, while tomorrow, November 11, it's time for Junior League teams to take the stage. More details at https://lnkd.in/ekKeKVse #RoboCup #RoboCup2025 #RCAP2025 #Robotics #AI

Last October, researchers and innovators from around the world gathered in Hangzhou, China, for the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2025), one of the most prestigious global events in robotics and artificial intelligence. During the conference, the RoboCup Best Paper Award was presented, recognizing the most outstanding scientific contribution related to RoboCup. The prize celebrates research that pushes the boundaries of autonomous robotics and AI, the core pillars of RoboCup since its inception. The award was handed by Professor Minoru Asada, one of the co-founders of the RoboCup Federation. - Winning paper: “Like Playing a Video Game: Spatial-Temporal Optimization of Foot Trajectories for Controlled Football Kicking in Bipedal Robots” Authors: Wanyue Li, Ji Ma, Minghao Lu, and Peng Lu - Finalists: Yuanyuan Tian et al. LLM-CBT: LLM-Driven Closed-Loop Behavior Tree Planning for Heterogeneous UAV-UGV Swarm Collaboration Peihan Li et al. Resilient Multi-Robot Target Tracking with Sensing and Communication Danger Zones Yewei Huang et al. DRACo-SLAM2: Distributed Robust Acoustic Communication-Efficient SLAM for Imaging Sonar-Equipped Underwater Robot Teams with Object Graph Matching Congratulations to all authors for their outstanding contributions and for advancing research in the RoboCup community!👏 #RoboCup #IROS2025 #Robotics #ArtificialIntelligence #Innovation #Research #Science

🤖 RoboCup Brazil Open 2025 is almost here! From October 13–19, Vitória, Espírito Santo, will host the 23rd edition of RoboCup in Brazil. For the first time, the city will welcome the Petrobras Brazilian Robotics Competition, held at the Innovation City of the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo (IFES). The event is expected to bring together over 2,000 participants, including students, educators, researchers, and professionals from the robotics community. The program includes robotics competitions, hands-on workshops, expert lectures, exhibitions, and demonstrations of cutting-edge technologies, providing an ideal platform to explore innovations and the future of robotics and AI in Latin America ⚙️

We are pleased to share that the RoboCup Junior (Australia) Inc. Open Championships 2025 begin tomorrow in Canberra! The event will run through Sunday and brings together students from across Australia to explore robotics through teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving ⚙️ This year marks a special return to the nation’s capital, as Canberra hosts the championship for the first time since 2012. The event is organized by RoboCup Junior (Australia) Inc. and RoboCup Junior ACT. We wish all participating teams an excellent competition and a rewarding learning experience! Learn more about the event at: https://lnkd.in/gYswieb

🔧 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗖𝘂𝗽 𝗟𝗼𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲: 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 When you think of industrial robots, you might imagine robots carrying heavy objects or assembling products. But in the RoboCup Logistics League, the real challenge lies elsewhere: in planning complex production chains, adapting to constant change, and coordinating multiple robots under tight time constraints. In this AIhub interview, Alexander Ferrein, Till Hofmann, and Wataru Uemura, share how the league is progressing from a navigation challenge into a full-scale testbed for smart, adaptive manufacturing systems. And there's more to come: The league is now evolving toward a new Smart Manufacturing competition — one that aims to integrate diverse robot types, real-world industrial processes, and human-robot collaboration to mirror the factories of the future. 👉 Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/e5RshQqF

Hiroaki Kitano, one of RoboCup’s founding Trustees and President & CEO of Sony CSL, took the stage at TEDAI Vienna 2025 last week at the Hofburg Imperial Palace. In his talk, Dr. Kitano shared powerful insights on AI for Scientific Discovery, highlighting how machine intelligence can accelerate breakthroughs and deepen our understanding of the world. A remarkable moment for the global AI and robotics community and for all inspired by the vision that drives RoboCup 😊

New on AIhub: learn more about the science behind this year's 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗖𝘂𝗽 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱! In their paper "Self-supervised Feature Extraction for Enhanced Ball Detection on Soccer Robots", Can Lin, Daniele Affinita, Marco Zimmatore, Daniele Nardi, Domenico Daniele Bloisi and Vincenzo Suriani (Team SPQR) tackle a core challenge: reducing reliance on large manually labeled datasets by leveraging self-supervised learning guided by a more generic teacher model. ✨ Key takeaways:  • 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮, 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗯𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀: tested at RoboCup, their model outperformed previous approaches, especially under varying light conditions.  • From soccer to 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁: they're now applying this detection framework to real-world tasks, such as agriculture.  • RoboCup isn't just about winning matches; it’s a driver for 𝗰𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴-𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵, 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 🎉 Congratulations once again to Team SPQR! A fantastic example of research that combines innovation with real-world impact. 👉 Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eRdgiqS5 #RoboCup #RoboCup2025 #BestPaper #Robotics #ComputerVision #AI