RoboCup: HTWK Leipzig is soccer world champion in humanoid "Kid Size" class
The robotics team from HTWK Leipzig has defeated a Chinese team in the "Kid Size" class. The German team had only just received the robots.
A K1 robot from HTWK Leipzig runs towards the generic goal.
(Image: Screenshot/HTWK Robots)
The humanoid robot team "Boosted HTWK Robots" from HTWK Leipzig won the world championship title in the humanoid "Kid Size" class at RoboCup 2025 in Salvador, Brazil, on Sunday. The team defeated the Chinese robot players of the TH-MOS team in the final with a clear score of 11:0.
The HTWK team's victory was no accident: the team had already won the world championship title in 2018 and also claimed a total of eight runner-up world championship titles. Previously, the Leipzig soccer team used Nao robots from French robotics company Aldebaran. This year, they used humanoid robots from the Chinese robotics company Booster Robotics for the first time.
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Maximum success with new robots
The robots in question are of the K1 type. The humanoid robot is about one meter tall and weighs around 20 kg. The robot's capabilities are superior to those of the Nao robots in all respects. The mechanical capabilities are better, the sensors are more precise and the computing power is higher. The scientists at HTWK Leipzig did not receive the new robots until April 2025, but a major effort was required to be able to use them at RoboCup 2025 in July. First, the team ported the existing software of the Nao robots to the K1. This was followed by training the robots' artificial intelligence (AI). They learned to run, dodge, navigate, stand up and score goals.
The opposing Chinese TH-MOS team also used K1 robots from Booster Robotics. However, the robot team from Leipzig was superior to the Chinese robot players in terms of tactics and movement, which can be attributed to the better AI algorithms and is also reflected in the superior final score of 11:0.
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HTWK Leipzig was also represented at the RoboCup by another team, which continued to use Nao robots. However, things did not go quite so well for them. They were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Standard League.
(olb)
