EINDHOVEN, Netherlands — With the score tied 1-1, it's gone to a penalty shootout in a tense soccer match between teams from Israel and Australia.
As the Australian goalkeeper in his red jersey braces for the shot, the Israeli striker pauses. Then he breaks into a dance instead of kicking the ball.
Perhaps he can be forgiven: He's a robot, after all.
Welcome to the RoboCup, where more than a thousand soccer-playing robots from forty countries have descended on the Dutch technology Mecca of Eindhoven this week with one goal in mind: beat the humans.
Eventually.
The tournament's mission is to defeat the human World Cup winners by 2050 — creating technology along the way that will have applications far beyond the realm of sport.
To achieve the goal, organizers have created multiple competition classes — including small robots, large robots, humanoid robots and even virtual robots — with plans to merge their techniques into a single squad of all-star androids capable of one day winning a man vs. machine matchup.
For now, Lionel Messi doesn't need to look over his shoulder. Humanoid robots have difficulty keeping their balance, and the largest — human height — move more like, well, robots than world-class athletes.
"To be honest, I think a 3-year-old could win against any of the humanoid teams," says Marcell Missura of the University of Bonn, whose NimbRO team won the "teen" humanoid class in Mexico City last year.