RoboCup Federation teams up with Booster/Fourier/Unitree on Humanoid Robotics Research and Education
14 Dec 2024
Promoting AI and robotic development to better human life
Dec-10 - The RoboCup Federation (RCF) has formed partnerships with Booster Robotics, Fourier Intelligence and Unitree Robotics, aiming at the highest-quality AI and humanoid robotics research and education as well as respective worldwide visibility, by fostering the participation of those companies humanoid robots in RoboCup competitions.
RCF and these three organizations share the goal of intelligent robots serving and supporting humans in various challenging tasks both at home and at work. To achieve that goal, they believe it is necessary to bring together different individuals, institutions, and commercial efforts, in order to benefit human life.
On the side of RoboCup, the international scientific platform will bring in its network of AI and Robotics research institutions and scientists to promote research discussions, extensions and collaborations. This cooperation will also boost RoboCup's ultimate goal of, by the middle of the 21st century, a team of fully autonomous humanoid robot soccer players winning a soccer game, complying with the official rules of FIFA, against the winner of the most recent World Cup.
Booster, Fourier and Unitree have pledged to utilize their business network and commercialization capabilities to promote opportunities to fund or to commercialize RoboCup-linked project research, technology and products. They will also share their communication partnership and platform resources for more robotic research and application awareness building.
“The RoboCup Federation is very excited to be partnering with Booster Robotics, Fourier Intelligence, and Unitree Robotics towards our joint goal of improving the state of the art of intelligent robotics through cutting-edge research and world-class development. I firmly believe that our collaboration will enable us to achieve significantly faster and more impactful progress than any of us could achieve independently," stated RoboCup's President, Prof. Ubbo Visser.
Mr Hao Cheng, the Founder and CEO of Booster:
"I graduated from Tsinghua University, where I had the privilege of competing several times in RoboCup — the world’s most prestigious stage for robotics & AI innovation. This experience not only deepened my commitment to RoboCup’s mission but also opened my eyes to the transformative impact of cutting-edge AI, autonomy, and machine learning in the real world. Looking ahead, I am excited about the potential for Booster Robotics and RoboCup to forge a lasting partnership that accelerates progress in robotic soccer. I am eager to see us advance toward RoboCup’s 2050 goal: to have a humanoid soccer team beat the human World Cup champions. It’s a bold vision, and I truly believe our collaboration can help bring it to life."
Mr Alex Gu, the Founder and CEO of Fourier:
“This partnership will serve as a powerful inspiration, igniting the passion and drive for exploration in humanoid robotics technology among all participants. We are confident that RoboCup will become a cornerstone in implementing a range of practical applications, ultimately shaping the robotics landscape across real-world scenarios.”
Mr Xingxing Wang, the Founder and CEO of Unitree:
"We are looking forward to our collaboration with RoboCup, the world’s most prestigious platform for driving innovation in robotics and AI. We believe that through everyone’s joint efforts, this new era of humanoid robot technology — catalyzed by RoboCup’s leadership — will significantly advance challenges like robotic soccer and help bring humanoid robotics into the mainstream."
About RoboCup Federation:
The RoboCup Federation is an international organization of top robotic scientists and institutions, which uses RoboCup competition series and challenges as a platform to promote and advance robotics and AI research. RoboCup started in 1997. It is a unique and worldwide initiative and brand for the longest running moonshot initiative in Autonomous Robotics and AI. RoboCup has expanded its pioneering activities successively from teams of autonomous soccer playing robots to intelligent robots meeting societal challenges in rescue, home and industrial environments.
About Booster
Booster Robotics is a world-renowned humanoid robot company, with the aim of uniting developers to drive productivity evolution. The team has accumulated technical expertise in the field of humanoid robots for over 20 years. Many of its core members have participated in the RoboCup Humanoid League and possess years of experience in RoboCup competitions. Booster T1, launched in 2023, was developed based on the scenario of robot soccer. It adheres to the RoboCup standards, is robust and resistant to falls, and supports secondary development. Booster Robotics is committed to providing developers with stable and user-friendly humanoid robots as well as efficient development tools, thereby boosting the implementation of embodied AI. We recognize and follow the vision of RoboCup to contribute to enabling robots to defeat the winner of World Cup in 2050.
About Fourier
Fourier is a world-leading general purpose robotics company. At Fourier, our mission is to leverage full-stack robotics technology services to enrich people’s lives. Founded in 2015, Fourier is driven to develop robots equipped with dexterity and intelligence for medical rehabilitation, scientific research, and other common usage in the real world. We provide robotic services to over 2000 organizations and hospitals from more than 40 countries and regions around the globe. In 2023, we launched our first mass-produced humanoid robot GR-1. As a leap forward in embodied artificial intelligence, Fourier GR-1 is built on years of research and will advance our commitment to benefiting human lives with capable and easy-to-control robots.
About Unitree
Unitree Robotics is a world-renowned civilian robotics company, which is focusing on the R&D, production, and sales of consumer and industry-class high-performance general-purpose legged and humanoid robots, six-axis manipulators, and so on.Unitree Robotics has been invited to attend the 2021 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the opening ceremony of Winter Games 2022, the 2023 Super Bowl, The 19th Asian Games and The 4th Asian Para Games, and has been interviewed and reported by CCTV, BBC and other well-known media for many times. Unitree Robotics is the world‘s first company to start public retail of high-performance quadruped robots, and the first to achieve industry landing, with global sales leading over the years. Unitree has excellent leadership in core robot parts, motion control, robot sensing and other comprehensive fields. Unitree attaches great importance to independent research and development and technological innovation, fully self-researching key core robot components such as motors, reducers, controllers, LIDAR and high-performance perception and motion control algorithms, integrating the entire robotics industry chain, and reaching global technological leadership in the field of quadruped robots. At present, we have applied for more than 200 domestic patents and granted more than 180 patents all over the world.