Football robots to enter contest

The robots can make sense of their surroundings and react to the movements of other players

A robotic football team representing Scotland will compete against other countries in the Robocup contest in Turkey next year.

Android FC, made up of a two-foot-high striker, defender and goalkeeper, will compete in the contest in Istanbul.

The robots, which have been developed by academics at Edinburgh University, can make sense of its surroundings and react to other players' movements.

Other countries are also making robots to enter the competition.

The robots are being shown at Edinburgh International Science Festival 2010.

Each member of the robot team is fully autonomous and has embedded processors.

Dr Sethu Vijayakumar of Edinburgh University's school of informatics, who developed the robots, said: "Robocup is a key challenge in robotics research.

"It helps focus efforts towards a complete, embedded solution to the problem of sensing, intelligence and dynamic movements in robots and creates a benchmark against which more socially relevant, useful and autonomous robots can be developed."