Football Robots to Take on World Champions in 2050

Adam Benhammouda | Var / 27/01/2025 | 08h54 | La Marseillaise

LA GARDE – Dozens of international researchers and students gathered on the university campus last Friday and Saturday to prepare for RoboCup 2025, a robotic football competition set to take place in Brazil this July. The ultimate goal? To develop a team of robots capable of defeating human football world champions by 2050.

Imagine a team of robots able to dribble, tackle, and score goals against human world champions. While it may still seem like science fiction, this is precisely the objective of RoboCup, a competition launched in Japan in 1996. Its 28th edition will be held in Salvador, Brazil, from July 15 to 21, 2025.

To prepare for this challenge, the University of Toulon’s La Garde campus hosted seven international teams competing in the Middle Size League (the premier category). These teams, coming from China, Portugal, and the Netherlands (including the reigning champions), were not there to compete against each other but to share knowledge.

« RoboCup is driven by knowledge-sharing, » explains Valentin Gies, university professor and leader of the Robot Club Toulon (RCT). « The goal of these two days was to define a roadmap for scientific innovation, setting milestones to achieve our long-term mission: defeating the human world champions by 2050. »

Innovations with Real-World Applications

The spirit of RoboCup is entirely collaborative, and the challenges ahead remain significant.

« There is no human intervention during matches—robots must operate autonomously, from movement to team strategies, » adds Valentin Gies. « One of the biggest challenges is collective strategy: how robots coordinate with each other and interact with humans. This year, for the first time, we will attempt to integrate a human player into the robotic team. This development also raises crucial questions about safety, as ensuring secure interaction between robots and humans remains a major hurdle.”

While there is still a long way to go, these robots are already capable of running at nearly 22 km/h and shooting balls at 80 km/h in just 10 milliseconds.

However, the ultimate goal is civilian: « These innovations must serve science and humanity, » explains Valentin Gies. « For example, in the military field, in rescue operations to access narrow or extremely hot areas, during a fire… »

This is a great opportunity for the members of the RCT, most of whom are future engineers: « There is a cultural exchange and a sharing of approaches to robotics, » says Mathis enthusiastically. « As an engineer, it’s very interesting to see how other countries work. The scale of this event also makes us very proud to take part in it. »

« It feels like entering another world. As students, we are used to being guided. Here, we interact as equals with engineers and industry professionals… We all share the same goal: advancing science, » adds Margaux, president of the RCT.

The future is in motion.

Adam Benhammouda

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