Soccer without hooligans, unnecessary diving, and foul play, but with respect for your opponents, and sympathy towards other teams? The 2013 World RoboCup Championships prove it can be done. When a robot topples over because of its shaky legs, nobody complains to the ref. There are no theatrical falls or exaggerated somersaults after which players play dead and demand yellow. Not here. After an ingenious backwards flip and a squat, the robot is back on its feet and ready to go: now where’s that ball?

The Humanoid League is filled with tiny, endearing robots shuffling to reach a ball. It’s similar to junior soccer, in a way. One after another, the robots bounce backwards excitedly, or wobble off the field and fervently continue to walk up against a wall. It’s especially their ‘human’ proportions that make them recognizable and therefore likeable. Some teams played with that idea by dressing their robots in shorts, or giving them heads.

In the Middle Size League, in which current world champion Tech United of TU/e participates, things are slightly colder and rougher. The robots are no more than platforms on wheels, basically. They’re not like humans at all. Or are they? During a friendly game between Chinese team Water, and MRL from Iran, robots of both teams crash into each other with relentless and vicious fervor.   

Of course, robot soccer doesn’t compare to the game we play on the soccer turf, if only for the emotions these machines lack. But the hundreds of programmers watching the games from the sidelines with miles and miles of cables definitely make up for that. Still, some seem to cope with their jetlags and the long days in the Indoor Sports Center better than others. By the end of Wednesday afternoon, before the event has even started properly, some programmers have dozed off over their laptops.

They’re resting for the actual competitions, which start tomorrow for most categories. Wednesday is day for practice and demonstrations. And fixing things. “It’s all we seem to be doing”, someone from Tech United roars while working on care robot AMIGO. He then rushes off to be in time for the first serious test later that afternoon.