Germany.info : Information Services: Publications: The Week in Germany

Germany.info Home: Information Services: Publications: The Week in Germany

The Week in Germany: Sports

May 9, 2008

Robot Goalkeeper Better than the Bundesliga, its Inventors Claim

Challenge: Getting past Goalias is not easy. © picture-alliance/dpa

A robotic goalkeeper is better than human keepers in Germany's soccer Bundesliga, its inventors boasted recently as they demonstrated the computer-controlled device, Goalias, to the media.

Players from first-division side VfB Stuttgart, including Germany team player Mario Gomez, tried to outwit Goalias, shooting indoors at a full-size goal mouth from 11 meters out. Scientists have since fine-tuned Goalias.

"We'd say now that Goalias can hold every second kick from Mario Gomez," said Peter Göhner, director of the Stuttgart University Institute of Industrial Automation and Software Engineering (IAS), which built Goalias and has invited the German women's soccer team to try to beat it on May 22.

The robot uses three video cameras to calculate the ball's trajectory and move a plastic keeper figure on a rail left or right to block it, all within 400 milliseconds.

Göhner revealed Goalias' weak point: it could still be fooled by some hard curving shots with plenty of spin.

The robot project was devised to appeal to teenagers and encourage them to study engineering in Stuttgart.

Source: dpa

Links:

Institute of Industrial Automation and Software Engineering

Back to the Front Page

Current Headlines

Introducing
The German Information Center