Championship Robots support Plymouth Argyle

Two international cup-winning 'players of the future' will be in the stands to cheer on Plymouth Argyle (PAFC) when they face Preston North End on Saturday 6 March. Sadly for Pilgrims head coach Paul Mariner, Robocup Sprint Champions Bugs and Roger will not be eligible for selection when they take their seats at Home Park. Bugs and Roger, who are from the University of Plymouth's robotics department, will be in the Family Stand demonstrating the skills that have helped them win titles including the UK Federation of International Robo-soccer Association(FIRA) Championship since 2007, and FIRA Robocup Sprint Champions since 2008. And PAFC fans will have a chance to control the pair during the pre-match build up and show off their ball skills! With a number of projects from language acquisition to developing singing robots, the university's robotics team is at the forefront of robotics design and research. Phil Culverhouse, Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing and Mathematics, said "We chose to develop football skills in our robots as it is very motivating for both academics and students to understand a real-world activity that our robots could master. It has the additional benefit that the wider public can grasp what we are trying to do and so can understand more about robotics. "It is rather difficult to design a robot to kick a ball.