A group of students aged between 12 and 17 have demonstrated their ability to include artificial intelligence (AI) in young soccer robots at a recent Scitech two-day RoboCup tournament.

According to a report on thewest.com, around 100 WA students, representing 30 teams of two robots each, participated in the tournament. The winners will play the national robot soccer finals in Sydney next month.

RoboCup is an international research and education initiative formed to foster artificial intelligence and robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can be examined and integrated.

RoboCup Junior co-coordinator Craig Bloxsome was quoted in thewest.com report as saying, “some of the students made robots from the ready-made kits while others designed them from scratch as part of their school engineering projects.”

The robots on the soccer field have the ability to sense infrared light emitted from the specially designed soccer ball. They are also fitted with directional sensors that help them move towards the goal.

Apart from the soccer challenge, the RoboCup Junior tournament also featured several competitions such as a dance challenge, a rescue challenge and a Gen II demonstration – all of which represent opportunities for young students to develop technical abilities through hands-on experience with electronics, hardware and software.