FOOTBALL daft boffins were studying last night’s Champion’s League final for tips on teaching their robotic dream team on how to milk it like Messi or roll like Ronaldo to gain an advantage on the pitch.
Diving to con the referee is commonplace in football and now the robots are being shown how to copy the game’s biggest fakers.
The mechanical stars of this year’s RoboCup will be tumbling like Tevez to help ease their way to victory.
And their creators will have been glued to the Man Utd v Barcelona match while training for the annual RoboCup this summer, when 2,500 scientists from 36 countries will clash Austria. Continue reading →
ONE of Edinburgh’s star tourist attractions has kicked off a week-long festival of astronomy, the universe and everything.
Exploding marshmallows, an inflatable planetarium and a host of cosmic exhibitions will all feature at Our Dynamic Earth over the Easter weekend, until April 13.
The festival, dubbed the “Astronomical Astronomy Circus”, aims to capture the imaginations of stargazers both young and old.
Visitors will get the chance to build robots out of Lego, “terra-form” Mars and enjoy an intimate planetarium experience.
More than 7,500 people flocked to McEwan Hall over the weekend to watch the festival’s star attraction, who can walk, run, dance and even play football.
The robot, called Asimo, is the result of more than two decades of research by scientists all over the world, including a team at Edinburgh University.
Sethu Vikayakumar, professor of robotics at Edinburgh University, said that Asimo, which stands for “Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility”, represented a big step
towards a future where robots work alongside humans.
He said: “There are many potential applications for a robot like Asimo – robots could be used in healthcare, in hazardous environments where humans cannot go, and to fight the wars of the future.
“We’ve still got a long way to go with this technology, but as an autonomous humanoid robot Asimo is very exciting.”
The Edinburgh Science Festival, which runs until Sunday 19th April, has entertained more than a million visitors since its inception in 1987.
Simon Gage, director of the festival, said that Asimo was just one of many attractions on show.
He said: “There’s something for everyone, whether you want to unwrap a mummy, participate in a dinosaur dig or attend a Richard Dawkins lecture.
Deadline Press & Picture Agency 