Between 30 June and 7 July, Incheon in South Korea hosted the 29th RoboCup World Championship, one of the most prestigious international showcases of autonomous robotics technology. Researchers, developers and student teams from nearly fifty countries attended the competition to showcase their latest achievements in robotic solutions that may one day find practical applications for society.
RoboCup traditionally takes place across several main leagues: participants compete in the Soccer, Rescue, @Home, Industrial and Junior categories. This year, four teams represented Hungary at this globally unique professional event, based on the results of the spring qualifying competitions.
Among others, the Hu-More-Bot team from Nyíregyháza, part of the John von Neumann Society (NJSZT) community, won the special ‘Best Technical Interview’ award in the OnStage competition – which featured 25 entrants in the Junior category – thanks to their unique performance. The team’s mentor, Roland Szalacsi, has close ties to the NJSZT’s Robotics Department.
The team prepared a unique performance: they presented dancing robots balancing on two wheels on stage. The expert jury spoke highly of the development, emphasising that they had never encountered such an advanced technical solution during the competition.
Members of the Hu-More-Bot team:
- Máté Szalacsi
- Dominik Benő-Batári
- Marcell Szalacsi
Mentors:
- Roland Szalacsi
- Éva Szalacsiné Linzenbold
Behind this success lay many months of hard work, made particularly difficult by the fact that the students also had to sit their A-level exams in the days leading up to the world championship.
Next year, destination Nuremberg!
The RoboCup community’s attention is already turning towards the next World Cup: Nuremberg has been awarded the right to host the 2027 RoboCup. Based on the Hungarian teams’ results this year, there is every chance that they will once again successfully represent their country next year at one of the most important international events in the world of robotics.
