RoboCup is an annual international robotics competition founded in 1996 by a group of university professors (including Hiroaki Kitano, Manuela M. Veloso, Itsuki Noda and Minoru Asada). The aim of the competition is to promote robotics and AI research by offering a publicly appealing – but formidable – challenge. The name RoboCup is a contraction of the competition's full name, "Robot World Cup Initiative" (based on the FIFA World Cup), but there are many other areas of competition such as "RoboCupRescue", "RoboCup@Home" and "RoboCupJunior". Claude Sammut is the current president of RoboCup, and has been since 2019. The official goal of the project is:

RoboCup leagues

The contest currently has six major domains of competition, each with a number of leagues and sub-leagues. These include: Each team is fully autonomous in all RoboCup leagues. Once the game starts, the only input from any human is from the referee.

RoboCup editions

The formal RoboCup competition was preceded by the (often unacknowledged) first International Micro Robot World Cup Soccer Tournament (MIROSOT) held by KAIST in Taejon, Korea, in November 1996. This was won by an American team from Newton Labs, and the competition was shown on CNN. RoboCup was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19. The planned host location of Bordeaux will host in 2023.

RoboCup Asia-Pacific editions

European RoboCupJunior Championship

RoboCup local events

2024

•German open in Kassel

2023

•German open

2021

2020

Events were cancelled due to COVID-19

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010