BotSport TV has produced a trailer to remind us that RoboCup 2013 will take place from June 26th to July 1st in Eindhoven, Netherlands. 

With more than 2500 participants from 40 countries, RoboCup is the international competition on robotics. With previous years' events having taken place in Singapore, Istanbul and Mexico City, the RoboCup competition is this year coming to Eindhoven.

RoboCup is an event that showcases technology, Artificial Intelligence and autonomous robots. The key goal of the competition is to:

Build a soccer playing robot that looks like a human and that can beat the human world champion in 2050!

But, as the trailer indicates, the event has grown to include competitions for rescue robots and service robots.

And while soccer might seem a frivolous pursuit thing again - in fact it addresses basic challenges in robotics - such as vision and co-ordination and in the case of the humanoid robots being able to walk and kick. There is also the problem of getting robots to co-operate as  team and to behave in an acceptable manner as no barging, blocking or touching is allowed.

The competition also succeeds in getting kids involved in robotics. RoboCupJunior is an educational initiative designed to introduce primary and secondary school children to robotics, as well as undergraduates who do not have the resources to get involved in the senior leagues. It has competitions in soccer and rescue and in dance, where robots come together with music, dressed in costume and moving in creative harmony.

The RoboCup 2013 site is available in English and Dutch and BotSport.TV promises to post more videos during the competition. If you cannot wait until June, it already has the Senior League finals from 2012, 2011 and 2010.

Two regional RoboCup events are scheduled for April:

RoboCup IranOpen 2013 will be held in Tehran in April 5-7, 2013. This event covers rescue and @Home competitions as well as a comprehensive range of soccer contests for adults and junior and concludes with a symposium.

RoboCup German Open 2013 takes place from April 26-28 in Magdeburg with the finals of a soccer contest for which 378 Junior teams and 53 Major teams from 16 countries have registered