Multimedia Gallery - Robots, soccer and the staying power of Short Circuit - Scientists & Engineers on Sofas

April 9, 2015

Robots, soccer and the staying power of Short Circuit - Scientists & Engineers on Sofas

Soccer aficionado and RoboCup champion DARwIn-OP and robotics expert Alex Leonessa recently sat down with Thi Le in the NSF library to talk about robots of all kinds, and discuss how research in robotics could help do much more than just build better robots.

DARwIn-OP, which stands for Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence-Open Platform, and Leonessa, NSF program director for General & Age-Related Disabilities Engineering, both participated in local National Robotics Week events, which are designed to celebrate and spread awareness of robotics technology.

Created at Virginia Tech with NSF funding, DARwIn-OP is an 18-inch-tall humanoid robot designed to help roboticists experiment with new software and hardware approaches. The mini-robot frequently helps with educational and outreach activities.

You may recognize DARwIn-OP from the RoboCup, a robotics competition intended to challenge roboticists to create humanoid robots capable of playing soccer, an activity that requires complex physical and computational abilities.

Also, watch our behind-the-scenes video of DARwIN-OP's day at NSF: https://youtu.be/MYvk5Nogj_M

Can't get enough? Here's DARwIn-OP in the future (https://youtu.be/xq5l8DGsBgE) and on the Virginia Tech campus (https://youtu.be/adIsYQvAYJo).

For more Scientists & Engineers on Sofas (and other furnishings), visit: http://bit.ly/1BmN0tL.

Credit: NSF

Images and other media in the National Science Foundation Multimedia Gallery are available for use in print and electronic material by NSF employees, members of the media, university staff, teachers and the general public. All media in the gallery are intended for personal, educational and nonprofit/non-commercial use only.

Videos credited to the National Science Foundation, an agency of the U.S. Government, may be distributed freely. However, some materials within the videos may be copyrighted. If you would like to use portions of NSF-produced programs in another product, please contact the Video Team in the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs at the National Science Foundation.

Additional information about general usage can be found in Conditions.