Quick-Footed Humanoid Robot Prepares To Compete At Soccer Match

The bots are gaining speed to excel at sports, with one humanoid gearing up to take part in the 2023 RoboCup.

The nearly five-foot-tall ARTEMIS is trained to sprint, walk, and jump even on bumpy ground. As it turns out, these traits—coupled with well-oiled limbs and joints—make the robot a competent soccer player too. 

Come July, ARTEMIS will take a flight to Bordeaux, France, where it will showcase its athletic abilities during a soccer match at the RoboCup. The yearly event is where bots of various categories present their capabilities to scientific professionals around the world.

The robot’s inventors at the Samueli School of Engineering of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) say the biped’s name is coined after the Greek goddess of hunting and childbirth, so they think ARTEMIS is a “she.” Although ARTEMIS’ moniker is short for Advanced Robotic Technology for Enhanced Mobility and Improved Stability, its creators joke that it also stands for “A Robot That Exceeds Messi In Soccer.”

Designed as a general-purpose robot to test bipedal locomotion on uneven terrain, the 85-pound android’s star qualities lie in its actuators, which aim to mimic biological muscles. Whereas most robots are wired with stiff, position-controlled actuators, ARTEMIS’ are springy and force-powered. Engineers have also decided against propelling ARTEMIS’ movements with hydraulics, which rely on fluid pressure but can leak.

The robot’s feet each contain customized force sensors to give it excellent balance when it walks, jumps, and runs. As demonstrated in the video below, ARTEMIS can be kicked and pushed with much force, and still stand upright. 

An orientation unit and cameras installed in its head allow it to perceive its surroundings, and perhaps look out for a ball headed toward its peripherals.

While researchers tout ARTEMIS to be the “fastest walking humanoid robot in the world” thanks to its recorded walking speed of 6.9 feet per second, Boston Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid robot is said to top that with a max speed of 8.2 feet per second.

To prepare ARTEMIS for the RoboCup, student researchers have been taking it out on routine walks around the UCLA campus. They will also spend the next few weeks assessing the robot’s running and soccer-playing prowess on the university’s Intramural Field.

[via Interesting Engineering and Tech Times, cover image via UCLA]