Robo-update

Continuing its coverage of the wide world of robosports, Fifteen Minutes brings you a preview of the wildly anticipated RoboCup US Open in Atlanta, Ga. The Cambridge Robotic Futbol Club (CRFC), the hometown favorites, will—according to club co-president Jeffrey K.L. Ma ’07—“create a big splash, and show everyone else we’re serious.”

Expect big competition from Carnegie Mellon University, a club that’s been on the robot soccer circuit since 1997. Yet with the banning of “vertical dribblers”—whose skills are “just too good,” according to CRFC member Prabhas Pokharel ’09—this could be anyone’s game.

Regardless of the CRFC’s showing in Atlanta, the team will advance to the RoboCup World Cup in Germany this June. Watch out for Singapore’s Lucky Star and Germany’s Fu-Fighters to contend for the title in the small-size robot league.

The CRFC doesn’t know—or seem to care—what the winning team receives, but Pokharel believes that “they should have a World Cup trophy made with hexagons.” Whether they receive geometrically inspired prizes, Pokharel remains confident the CRFC will “SCHOOL EVERYBODY!”