When people say Pakistani youth has undoubtedly great potential then perhaps these are not mere words! They have proved their intellect, passion and confidence on many forums in the recent past. This time again a young team of students from NUST university are about to represent themselves and their country in world ROBO Cup organized in Germany.
Their journey to Germany was not a smooth sailing at all as they had to face multiple disappointments for the last two years primarily due to lack of funds. It is a great honor for Pakistan as it is the only team from South Asia to qualify for this annual international event which is a robot football world cup.
Interestingly, this is their third nomination in a row for this event as this time round NUST managed to arrange a staggering amount of USD 17,000 required to purchase these robots from France’s Aldebaran Robotics along with the trip’s funding for the team. The competition begins today and would last for a week between 27th June till 4th July. There are 27 teams in the Standard Platform League competing against each other. Others who have made it to the event include teams from University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas at Austin, University of Bremen, Osaka University, University of New South Wales etc.
This event originated from Japan but amid its popularity round the globe, it expanded into an international level. This league takes the best of brains as its focuses exclusively on the software side of robots. Every team is given the same set of robots but their performance is judged based on Artificial Intelligence code which dominates their actions.
Each university participating in the event will prepare NAO Humanoid robots who will play soccer against each other independently i.e. without any human involvement from outside the field. These robots should judge the environment, differentiate between teams of their own and their opponents, kick the ball and make a team strategy. The winning team will be announced based on the capability of the robots to make decisions using their Artificial Intelligence.
Dr. Yasar Ayaz is heading the team from NUST who supervised the entire program. This is perhaps one proud moment for Pakistan regardless of the outcome we consider Pakistani students to be selected among the top brains of the world an achievement in itself. Lets hope these young minds bring accolades for the country!! Keep your fingers crossed and follow the Robo cup.
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