IIT-Kharagpur whizkids in robo-cup

You had heard of human soccer players participating in various leagues. Robot soccer players are not far behind. Students of IIT Kharagpur have been developing robot soccer players that are participating in FIRA - the world's most prestigious robo-soccer championship - in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The championship that started on August 21 will be on till August 29.

A team of 40 students from the institute - KGP Cubs - has gone to Kuala Lumpur to take part in the championship. Of the 36 robber soccer teams from tech schools across the world, the only two teams from India that have been selected to participate in the FIRA championship are IIT-Kgp and IIT Madras.

It took the IIT Kharagpur boys four years to make these robots. And no ordinary robots these - each a soccer dynamite! Now armed with these robots, the KGP Cubs, as the team has been christened, has gone to participate in the world's most prestigious robo-soccer championship - FIRA - that is at the moment on in Malayasia's Kuala Lumpur. The championship started on August 24 and will be on till August 29.

At least 36 robo soccer teams from tech schools across the globe are participating in the championship. The only two teams from India that have been selected to participate in the FIRA championship are IIT-Kgp and IIT Madras. While the IIT-Kgp team is called KGP Cubs, the IIT Madras team has been named Sahas.

The selection is done on the basis of technological specifications provided by FIRA. The robots have to be built in accordance and should be able to perform soccer specific feats as specified.

In the past, IIT-Kgp had participated in the championship just once in 2009. However, the robots were not indigenously built then and much of the technological inputs had to be imported and assembled on campus. This did not deter the team's entry into the championship but it did disadvantage the team's position when it came to critical scores since teams that built their own robots naturally had an edge.

Over the last four years, the IIT-Kgp robot soccer team, consisting of 40 students from across departments, has been perfecting its own robots so that this time they can take on a level playing field.

"We are thrilled that for the first time we are being able to play with our indigenous robots. This time our students have been able to make two-wheeled robots that can perform all the feats but are yet to look like the traditional robots that have human-like limbs and are able to use them. Hence, they are participating in the Mirosot Robocup tournament which offers the second highest level of difficulty. We hope to improvise on the robots by next year to enter the most difficult level as well," said Jayanta Mukherjee, head of the computer science department of the institution and the guide of the team.

The field and the ball for the tournament are provided by FIRA and the robots of the challenging teams fight each other on this field. Almost like a five-a-side tournament played by humans, only five robots from each side will play each knock-out game.

"Apart from the robots, there is a server and a camera that we have developed, just like other teams. The camera placed just above the robots sends the image to the server that directs the robots to deal with the challenges on the field. This might sound complicated but actually takes a split second to happen," said Harsh Surana, a student of manufacturing engineering, who is the leader of the institute's team. The robots defend their goal, dribble the ball and pass it to their team members and try to outdo their opponent teams much like human footballers.