--- description: Thousands of engineers from more than 40 countries come together at the Robocup to set their robots competing against each other. title: Robots Have Their Own World Cup image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2581846fe0397e4e/69869d43adae44533b5444c8/8_robocup.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [World Cup](/tag/world-cup/) ## World Cup Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Robots Have Their Own World Cup  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 25, 2014 6:25 PM CUT  Humanoid robots play during a soccer match while visitors follow the competition in the international robotics competition, RoboCup Iran Open 2014, in Tehran, Iran on April 10, 2014. Humanoid robots play during a soccer match while visitors follow the competition in the international robotics competition, RoboCup Iran Open 2014, in Tehran, Iran on April 10, 2014.Vahid Salemi—AP  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 25, 2014 6:25 PM CUT The computer Deep Blue defeating world chess champion Garry Kasparov at his own game in 1997 was one thing but when a team of humanoid robots defeats the world’s greatest soccer players it will be something else altogether. These scientists are working to achieve just that. Founded the same year Deep Blue took down Kasparov, the Robocup was born with the mission of developing an artificially intelligent human-like robot by 2050 capable of beating the World Cup soccer champions. But before the robots get to defeating us humans at the world’s favorite game they’re practicing against each other each year in the Robocup, a robot soccer tournament in which the machines must obey the same rules as normal soccer. For this year’s Robocup, more than 4000 engineers and scientists from over 40 countries assembled in Brazil to set their machines competing against one another.  Humanoid robots are seen at the Institute for Computer Science at the University of Bonn in Bonn July 3, 2014. Ina Fassbender—Reuters  Research associates Larry Vadakedathu and Qin He work with one of their RoboCup entries, a 5-foot-tall metal humanoid named THOR (Tactical Hazardous Operations Robot), in the adult-size league at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on July 7, 2014. Matt Rourke—AP  Robocup Junior teams in RoboCup Robot Soccer Championship on July 21, 2014. Lorena Travassos—Fotoarena/Corbis  Members of the Rhoban project's team check functions of a humanoid robot at the LaBRI workshop in Talence, France on July 7, 2014. Regis Devignau—Reuters  People work on the software of humanoid robots during a photo opportunity at the Institute for Computer Science at the University of Bonn in Bonn, Germany on July 3, 2014. Ina Fassbender—Reuters  Students at the University of Pennsylvania work with one of their RoboCup entries known as Nao in Philadelphia on July 7, 2014. Matt Rourke—AP  The first day of the RoboCup Robot Soccer Championship in João Pessoa, Brazil on July 21, 2014. Lorena Travassos—Fotoarena/Corbis  A participant from the Netherlands prepares his humanoid robot for a soccer match in the international robotics competition in Tehran, Iran on April 10, 2014. Vahid Salemi—AP  Humanoid robots play during a soccer match while visitors follow the competition in the international robotics competition, RoboCup Iran Open 2014, in Tehran, Iran on April 10, 2014. Vahid Salemi—AP  Trophies won by humanoid robots at competitions are seen during a photo opportunity at the Institute for Computer Science at the University of Bonn in Bonn, Germany on July 3, 2014. Ina Fassbender—Reuters ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3034331/robot-world-cup/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3034331/robot-world-cup/"},"headline":"Robots Have Their Own World Cup","datePublished":"2014-07-25T18:25:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:08:00.322Z","description":"But they're training to compete in ours","url":"https://time.com/3034331/robot-world-cup/","keywords":["World Cup","robots","photography","engineering","AI"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2581846fe0397e4e/69869d43adae44533b5444c8/8_robocup.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2581846fe0397e4e/69869d43adae44533b5444c8/8_robocup.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Humanoid robots play during a soccer match while visitors follow the competition in the international robotics competition, RoboCup Iran Open 2014, in Tehran, Iran on April 10, 2014.","caption":"Humanoid robots play during a soccer match while visitors follow the competition in the international robotics competition, RoboCup Iran Open 2014, in Tehran, Iran on April 10, 2014.","creditText":"Vahid Salemi—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/world-cup/","name":"World Cup"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3034331/robot-world-cup/","name":"Robots Have Their Own World Cup"}}]}] ```