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Posts with tag soccer

Although we're sure you've had your fill of soccer thanks to the recent onslaught at RoboCup 2007, Aleksei Stevens' SoundBall was just too good to let roll by. This Bluetooth-enabled, sensor-laden soccer ball may not look all that paranormal, but giving it a swift boot triggers communication between the ball and a nearby computer, which then converts the signals into beeps, boops, and other far out katzenjammer. As expected, different blows, rolls, and turns send out varying notes, and while talking about sound can only convey so much of the story, why not take a listen for yourself after the jump?
Sure, witnessing the robotic incarnation of Ronaldo totally school his opponent and whip a game winner into the back corner of the net is quite impressive, but watching a nanoscale iteration attempt to do the same demands a slightly smaller (figuratively speaking, of course) level of respect for the creators. A total of five teams from North America and Switzerland built microscopic competitors that were around "six times smaller than an amoeba and weighed no more than a few hundred nanograms." The wee devices showed their stuff in the oh-so-fascinating Nano Cup soccer match, which had to be projected onto a screen in order for anyone to actually take a look at the action. Notably, several teams made mention of these diminutive creatures eventually ending up in various locales within the body, but we're sure the hardcore athletes were more focused on the final score than any future endeavours in the medical realm.
You've had ample time to scope out the vastness that is RoboCup 2007, but the fourth day of competition brought a little something extra in the form of an uber-talented soccer bot. The machines, which look an awful lot like those entered by Team Osaka, took to the pitch in order to give onlookers something to cheer about, and the videoed matchup between the forward and fullback captured the midfield goal perfectly. Interestingly enough, it seems that the defender either lost his footing or fell victim to a vicious headbutt to the chest, but his demise allowed the calculating shooter to line up an exquisite shot to the corner of the net. Enough color commentary, hit the read link to catch it for yourself.
In a fitting tribute to the pioneering scientist after whom it was named, Virginia Tech's Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence (DARwIn) has finally "evolved" enough (it's now on the fourth iteration, DARwIn IIb) to compete in the traditional Japanese sport of robot soccer. The VT team -- composed of striker DARwIn IIa and goalie DARwIn I -- will reportedly be the first US competitors in the humanoid division of the popular RoboCup tournament, whose 2007 finals are actually being held right here on American soil in Atlanta. DIIa, the more sophisticated of the Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory's (RoMeLa's) two bots, is built around a LabVIEW-powered 1.4GHz Pentium M with 1GB of RAM, 256KB of flash memory, 23 total actuators, a pair of FireWire cameras, and a gyroscope -- clearly the delicate head-mounted cam was designed before the head-butting ugliness of World Cup 2006. Keep reading to check out a vid of big D in action -- as well as tumbling over -- and then hit up the Read link for more pics, specs, and action-packed soccerbot clips.
While it might not as, um, USB-powered as another snazzy can cooler, this soccer ball chiller keeps a
It looks like those crazed individuals who somehow managed to escape from the nation's video game addict rehab center won't be sneaking into major football events to stir up trouble anymore, as Amsterdam Arena has launched a trial program to scan the fingerprints of football fans before letting them enter as they try to better "exclude known troublemakers" from making it to the stands. While European 






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