International groups take part in 17th Iran Open RoboCup

The event promotes research in robots and artificial intelligence

A robot football match between the Iranian MRL team, in red, and Russia's Starkit team at the 17th International Iran Open RoboCup, in Tehran. All photos: EPA

Robot footballers tussle for the ball. RoboCup promotes research in robotics and artificial intelligence

When established in 1997, the mission was to field a robot football team capable of beating the human Fifa World Cup holders by 2050

Twelve teams from Afghanistan, Brazil, China, Egypt, Iran, Germany and Russia are taking part in 2023

The event is being held at Tehran's Islamic Azad University from April 26 to 28

A robot soccer match between Iran MRL team (in red) and Russia Starkit team (in blue) during the 17th International Iran Open Robocup 2023, in Tehran, Iran, 27 April 2023. The event takes place at Tehran's Azad university from 26 to 28 April with the participation of 12 teams from foreign universities and schools and hundreds of Iranian teams. EPA / ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

The same year, a Tokyo workshop organised by Japanese researchers discussed using football to promote science and technology

In 1993, Japanese researchers decided to launch a Robot J-League, named after Japan's new football league

Interest from researchers outside of Japan saw the project expanded into the Robot World Cup Initiative – RoboCup for short

The first official RoboCup games and conference was held in 1997, in the Japanese city of Nagoya

Teams from Iran have competed in RoboCup since 1998

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