Latest news with #WorldRobotSoccerLeague
The Citizen
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
48 hours in pictures, 29 June 2025
48 hours in pictures, 29 June 2025 Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world. Actors dressed in 'Pink guards' costume attend a final fan event of the Netflix series Squid Game season 3, in Seoul, South Korea, 28 June 2025. Picture: EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN Wild horses during the traditional Rapa das Bestas festival celebrated in Mondonedo, Lugo, Spain, 29 June 2025. Every year, wild horses are rounded up in the hills and brought to a farmyard to be branded and have their hair cut during the festival. Several thousand people attended the event to watch young people overcoming horses without using ropes or sticks. In this edition, the event is held in a new 'curro' (the venue where it takes place) following the damage caused by vandals last year. Picture: EPA/ELISEO TRIGO Vincent Tshituka of South Africa during the Qatar Airways Cup match between South Africa and Barbarians F.C at DHL Stadium on June 28, 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images) Models light up the runway at Gateway's Hollywoodbets Durban July Preview Fashion Show, showcasing bold fashion and flair ahead of the big race day. Shoppers, designers, and VIPs were treated to a dazzling evening of music, movement, and couture at Durban's premier retail destination at the Gateway Theatre of Shopping in Durban over the weekend. The race is to take place at the Grenville race course in Durban this Saturday. Picture: Rajesh Jantilal This aerial view shows unemployed people queue to submit the Department of Unemployment and Labour work seeking registration forms at a centre in Chiawelo, Soweto on June 27, 2025, as they look to be added into the department's data base. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP) Robot soccer players compete during the 2025 RoBoLeague World Robot Soccer League match at Beijing Smart Esports Competition Center in Beijing, China, 28 June 2025. Picture: EPA/WU HAO Patryk Dudek of Poland (blue) in action during the Speedway European Team Speedway Championship in Gdansk, Poland, 28 June 2025. Picture: EPA/Adam Warzawa Nepalese farmers lie in muddy water in a paddy field on National Paddy Day in Jitpurphedi village, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal, 29 June 2025. On this day, locally known as Asar Pandra, farmers begin the annual rice planting season and perform various festivities such as preparing rice meals with muddy water, mud being a symbol for a prosperous season. Picture: EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA Participants in action during the Office Chair Race World Cup (Buerostuhlrennen Weltmeisterschaft), in Olten, Switzerland, 28 June 2025. Picture: EPA/ANTHONY ANEX People participate in the 14th World Naked Bike Ride in Guadalajara, Mexico, 28 June 2025. The event takes place in more than 70 cities around the world, where cyclists ride naked on bicycles to highlight the vulnerability of pedestrians and cyclists to motor vehicles, as well as to promote the use of alternative modes of transportation. Picture: EPA/FRANCISCO GUASCO Minister Velenkosi Hlabisa visits Nomzamo and Ezimbuzini informal settlements in Kliptown as part of the 'Winter Risk Awareness' campaign on June 28, 2025 in Kliptown, South Africa. The outreach aims to educate communities on disaster risk preparedness during winter, while highlighting the role of the G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group in promoting safer, more resilient informal settlements. (Photo by Gallo Images/Fani Mahuntsi) Western Cape Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile visits Kanana informal settlement following the brutal killing of seven men who were gunned down while socialising on June 28, 2025 in a Gugulethu, Cape Town, South Africa. He is still expected to visit the families of the victims. SAPS has vowed that no stone will be left unturned as detectives from the Serious and Violent Crimes Unit investigate the deadly ambush. (Photo by Gallo Images/Brenton Geach) Kneecap fans carry Palestinian flags as they watch Kneecap perform at the West Holts stage during day four of the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm near Pilton, Somerset, Britain, 28 June 2025. The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts 2025 runs from 25 to 29 June 2025. Picture: EPA/ANDY RAIN Members of the South African Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI+) community take part in a march throught the CBD during the annual Gay Pride Parade, as part of the Durban Pride Festival, in Durban over the weekend. Picture: Rajesh Jantilal DA leader John Steenhuisendelivers an important address on the Government of National Unity (GNU) and issues an ultimatum to President Cyril Ramaphosa during a media briefing held at the Orange Hotel on June 28, 2025 in Cape Town South Africa. The address is expected to outline key demands, concerns around the direction of the GNU, and political consequences should the ultimatum not be addressed, marking a pivotal moment in South Africa's evolving political landscape. (Photo by Brenton Geach/Gallo Images) 'The Herds', a life-sized animal puppet group takes part in a photocall opposite Tower Bridge on June 27, 2025 in London, England. 'The Herds' is a touring public art performance of life-sized puppet animals designed to call attention to the climate emergency, symbolizing animals fleeing climate disaster. The puppets are visiting cities along their 20,000 kilometer journey, which set off from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic Congo on 9 April and plans to conclude in the Arctic Circle. 'The Herds' arrival in London coincides with London Climate Action Week, and is produced by 'The Walk Productions' – the same group of creatives behind 'Little Amal,' the larger-than-life puppet of a Syrian refugee child, which has has toured 18 countries as a symbol of human rights. (Photo by) (L-R) Charlize Theron and KiKi Layne attend the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project 2025 Block Party at Universal Studios Backlot on June 28, 2025 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Monica Schipper / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP) Newly ordained hill tribe Buddhist novice monks hold saffron robes during the 60th annual mass ordination ceremony for hill tribe men and youngsters at Wat Benchamabophit Dusitwanaram, also known as the Marble Temple, in Bangkok, Thailand, 29 June 2025. A total of 196 hill tribe males '97 men and 99 boys' from northern Thailand were ordained as Buddhist monks and novices in the 60th annual mass ordination ceremony at Wat Benchamabophit in Bangkok. The event is part of a national project, launched in 1965, aimed at spreading the Buddha's Dharma to promote knowledge, wisdom, social and mental understanding, and improve welfare for hill tribe communities. The ceremony marks the start of Buddhist Lent, which begins this year on 11 July, and also honors the Thai King's 73rd birthday on 28 July. During Lent, monks remain in one place to meditate and pray, while laypeople may give up meat or alcohol and observe other ascetic practices. In Thailand, it is traditional for Buddhist men to become monks at some point in their lives. Picture: EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT People attend the traditional 'Battle of Wine' in the town of Haro, La Rioja, Spain, 29 June 2025. Around 10,000 people took part in Haro's annual Battle of Wine, an event in which more than 40,000 liters of wine were thrown among participants. Picture: EPA/VILLAR LOPEZ Aircrafts perform in the sky during the air picnic called 'Odlotowe Suwalki Airshow 2025' at the Suwalki airport, in Suwalki, Poland, 28 June 2025. Picture: EPA/Artur Reszko MORE: 24 hours in pictures, 26 June 2025
New York Post
26-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Humanoid robots guided by AI set to compete in first 3-on-3 soccer game
Soccer is getting a high-tech upgrade in Beijing this weekend, and the players aren't just fast — they're fully robotic. The RoBoLeague World Robot Soccer League will host its final match in the city's Yizhuang Development Zone on Saturday, where teams of humanoid robots will go head-to-head in a 3-on-3 soccer game in which the players are completely controlled by artificial intelligence. This competition, which is believed to be the first-ever 3-on-3 match between robots, is a preview for next year's World Humanoid Robot Games, and four Chinese teams made up of robot players have earned their spots in the finals after a series of qualifiers. Advertisement The robots, which won't have any human assistance, will play two 10-minute halves, with a 5-minute break. 4 Humanoid robots line up on the field before kickoff during a fully autonomous soccer match in Beijing. CCTV During a Thursday training session, teams from Tsinghua University and Beijing Information Science and Technology University showed off their robot players. The machines may walk a little awkwardly, but they can run, kick, and chase the ball — all on their own. Advertisement 'The World Robot Soccer League will be the first test competition for the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games and China's first-ever 3-versus-3 AI humanoid robot football match as well, which will put the participating robots' endurance and agility to the test,' Dou Jing, one of the event organizers, told China Central Television (CCTV). How do the robots know where to go? Each one is equipped with cameras and sensors that allow it to 'see' the field and figure out where the ball is. 'At present, all the visual recognition and positioning abilities of the robot are accomplished through optical cameras,' explained Wang Yonghao, who is in charge of the competition's operations. 4 A team of AI-powered robots prepares to defend the goal in a pre-match training session. CCTV Advertisement 'For instance, during the football match, it needs to first identify a white, round ball, or an object of a similar size. Then we make sure that the color white or any other similar color will not appear on the robots' feet, on the body of the on-site staff and referees, including their shoes or other objects on them,' he told CCTV. The robots have been trained with deep reinforcement learning — a type of artificial intelligence that helps them learn through trial and error. 4 Two opposing robot teams chase the ball mid-game under stadium lights at the RoBoLeague finals. CCTV 'The robot should be able to see the football nearly 20 meters away at an accuracy rate of over 90 percent,' said Cheng Hao, founder and CEO of Booster Robotics. Advertisement 'First, it should be able to tell what or where the ball, the goal, or the pitch is, and afterward it needs to make decisions about the role it is going to play based on all these inputs.' 4 Robot players in red and blue uniforms square off as the match begins in the world's first 3-on-3 humanoid soccer competition. CCTV The machine would then need to either advance the ball to a teammate or kick it toward the net to score a goal. 'All these are the technological challenges we aim to address at the moment. Of course, as the technology evolves, all these capabilities can be achieved for the robot now,' Cheng said. Saturday's game is just the beginning. Beijing will host the full World Humanoid Robot Games from August 15 to 17 as part of the World Robot Conference — the first global sporting event where every competitor is built, not born.
