(San Francisco) -- The 4th International RoboGames finished last
week, with humans and robots from around the world flying out after a
hard four days of competition in 62 different robot events. Packed
stands watched androids play basketball, combat robots fight,
intelligent robots fight fires, smart cars drive through an obstacle
course, and even bartending robots mix drinks.

"We're very proud of what we've built here," said David Calkins,
RoboGames founder. "This is the world's largest open competition.
Absolutely anyone can compete. You don't have to go to a high school
or university, you don't have to be rich, you don't have to be part
of some company, and you don't have to be a set age or gender. We've
got kids 15 years old competing against 60 year old professional
roboticists, Iranians going up against Americans, men vs. women, and
grad students competing against handymen."

Photos:
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/6/emw536881.htm
http://robogames.net/photos/pix-2007.php

Because of the breadth and diversity of competitions at RoboGames,
the event hopes to inspire innovation and huge jumps in electrical
engineering, mechanical engineering, android gait programming, vision
recognition, and many other disciplines.

"When you've got a deadline, and you know that you're competing
against some of the world's smartest people, you work harder and
longer," says Calkins. "These guys want to win. And to win, they've
got to innovate. We even beat our previous world record for
attendees, getting about 850 robots to attend."

"Now we're looking for more sponsors to help get teams here in 2008,"
said Calkins. "We had over 100 teams this year who just couldn't
afford the airfare. Can you imagine how good the events would be if
these engineers were as well funded as olympic athletes? The progress
and advancements in robotics would be amazing due to the level of
competition." The 2008 event was announced as being in San Francisco,
May 23-25, 2008.

One of the most impressive competitions was the seven "Humanoid
Challenges" for autonomous androids, which had to compete in
BasketBall, a 1:1000 scaled Marathon, an Obstacle Run, one-on-one
Penalty Kick, a short Dash, Weight Lifting, and the "Lift and Carry."
Taiwan's TK University robot "Pi" was the big winner, taking gold in
the Septathalon (overall points), Obstacle Run, Dash, Penalty Kick
and Weight Lifting, and silver in Basketball and the Marathon.

"I didn't really think that any robots would be able to sink baskets
in basketball, but they all surprised me and did it. The robots have
to find the hoop themselves - it's not remote controlled," said
Calkins. "Next year I guess we'll have to do a slam dunk event," he
said, chuckling.

The Mirosot soccer competition (autonomous, rubic's cube sized
robots) was dominated by Singapore team "Socrates," repeating their
win in RoboWorldCup in Dortmund Germany last summer. Although not as
loud or large-scale as combat robots, the Mirosot competition held a
huge section of the audience, with its lightning fast plays and high
scoring matches (17 to 10).

Androids weren't limited to the autonomous humanoid challenges. Human
contestants remotely controlled androids to compete in one-on-one
KungFu, individual acrobatics, stair climbing, and a 2-meter race. In
the android acrobatics class, Japanese favorite "Plen" was the easy
gold medal winner with its super-human agility and roller skating
prowess. "I can't even roller skate backwards," sighed Calkins. "And
that little robot makes it look so easy. He even balances and coasts
on one foot."

Americans led by father and son "Team Farrell" from Gray, Maine swept
the KungFu competition, eliminating their tough Japanese rivals. 17-
year old Chris Farrell managed to beat his own father Rob to pick up
the gold with his 15" android "Oro" (named after a Tahitian god of
war.) Wunderkind Matt Bauer of Ohio picked up the bronze.

The US was almost locked out of gold medals in the upper-division
combat classes, but reigning champion and top-ranked Sewer Snake
driven my Matt Maxham held the gold in Heavyweight. But it was the
returning cinderella team from Brazil who stole the show when they
won gold medals in both middleweight and lightweight combat with
their robots "Touro" and "Touro Light". The audience and competitors
all went crazy at their knockout 2 minutes, 10 seconds into the
lightweight final round, with gold-crazed Brazilians joining their
American counterparts in swarming the arena for an impromptu
celebration. A few minutes later, they repeated their performance in
the middleweight class, the fight lasting the full 3 minutes for a
judges decisions, who split 2 to 1 for the Brazilians. Team Brazil
also picked up a bronze at 3-on-3 bot hockey.

"RoboGames is a 3-day crash course in Robotics. We've learned more
during these 3 days than during the entire past year." said Professor
Marco Meggiolaro, organizer of the Rio de Janeiro team "RioBotz" who
won the two gold medals. "Most competitors are so accessible and
share so much information, even knowing they might face you later in
the tournament. We're all friends outside the arena."

"My students easily and gladly pull off all-nighters when it is about
building robots. Nothing else could get them so much motivated" said
Meggiolaro. "And they're learning in the process. When something
breaks or just doesn't work well, I tell them how important
calculations are, and they actually get interested in studying
Calculus or Physics! They'll read an entire boring book if necessary,
or spend weeks searching the web, just to make sure our robots can
improve somehow."

In the Superheavyweight class, Canadian favorite Ziggy driven by Mark
Demers of Ottawa managed to win over audience favorite "the Judge"
from Texas' Team Mechanicus in a 1:48 knockout. Combat robot "The Red
Baron," a life-size red dog house with scarf and goggled snoopy atop
it, didn't make it to the combat finals even with its flame thrower
(much to the crowd's disappointment) although it picked up a medal in
the anything goes "best of show" category.

The sportsmanship of the event was proven when Iranian competitor
Alireza Kahvand of Hamedan, Iran needed help fixing his robot. He had
no other team members, but several Americans jumped in to help him
get his robot ready - even though they might be facing his robot
"Yavar K" in an upcoming match. In no other place in the world would
Iranians and Americans be helping each other so that they could
better fight one another.

Jamie Hyneman from the hit TV show "Mythbusters" made an appearance
to operate one of two robots in the new "RoBoxing" class - life-sized
humanoids that actually box against each other, hitting sensors in
the opponents chest and head. The crowd went crazy for Jamie, proving
that science-based TV shows can be just as popular as reality shows
or sit-coms.

The Tetsujin (iron man) competitions held the audience with
exoskeletons that augment human abilities. Double gold medal winner
Monty Reed of Seattle, Washington, showed that he could not only lift
far more than a normal man could, but demonstrated both walking and
hopping abilities in his "LifeSuit 13." The event shows that not only
can humans become their own forklifts, but that soon paralyzed people
will be walking alongside everyone else - no longer confined to the
world of wheelchairs.

Columbia picked up two medals, with their silver medal in the two-
wheeled balancer race (think Segway), and a bronze in the Hexapod
Challenge. The Hexapod Challenge was won once again by UK robot
"Ziggy" and his creator Nick Donaldson. Ziggy holds the distinction
of being the only robot to have won a gold medals every year since
the founding of RoboGames (as ROBOlympics.)

In the fire-fighting competition, robots find a fire and put it out.
For the third year, 15 year old Tony Pratkanis and his robot
"Solenopsis invicta" bested his middle-aged human rivals, most of
whom are professional engineers. The third place finisher, sixty year
old Bob Allen didn't hold Tony's success against him, he offered him
a job.

With no Japanese teams competing in robot sumo, Singapore continued
their domination of the class, taking home 10 medals across four
weight classes. The team from Ngee Ann Polytechnic swept two
different 3kg classes and the 500g class, although grabbing only a
bronze win the 100g class, with Mexico taking gold and USA taking
silver.

In the art bot classes, Oakland artist Nemo Gould wowed the judges
with a life-sized robotic squid and anatomically correct "General
Mayhem" android. Last year's Taiwanese winner I Wei took home two
more medals with his steam powered beetle and centipede. The
bartending robot from Austria, "CockBot One" was the no surprise
winner of the gold, while local favorite "El Espanol Borracho" took
home the bronze with it's flame-throwing Spanish Coffee maker.

MEDALS:

FIRA Robot Soccer:
MiRoSoT 11:11 - Gold: Socrates (Singapore); Silver: Edragon (China);
Bronze: ICRO_11 (Korea)
MiRoSoT 5:5 - Gold: Socrates (Singapore); Silver: ICRO_5 (Korea);
Bronze: Edragon (China)
RoboSoT 3:3 - Gold: TKU-Robot (Taiwan); Silver: OmniBots (Korea);
Bronze: Blue whale-4 (China)
KheperaSoT 1:1 - Gold: HNI-Devils1 (Germany); Silver: HNI-Devils2
(Germany); Bronze: SCT-Scooter1 (Germany)
SimuRoSoT 11:11 - Gold: WUST Climber (China); Silver: WIT-B (China);
Bronze: CUG-S11 (China)
SimuRoSoT 5:5 - Gold: WIT-A (China); Silver: WillWing (China);
Bronze: CUG-S5 (China)
AndRoSoT 3:3 - Gold: HIT (China); Silver: ICRO (Korea); Bronze: Rino
(Korea)

Humanoid Challenges:
Septathalon - Gold: Pi (Taiwan); Silver: BEYOND I (Singapore);
Bronze: CUG-Huro (China)
BasketBall - Gold: SURF1 (Singapore); Silver: Pi (Taiwan) & DCA-MIRDC
(Taiwan) (tie) ; Bronze: n/a
Obstacle Run - Gold: Pi (Taiwain) & WIT-I (China) (tie); Silver: n/a;
Bronze: n/a
Dash - Gold: Pi (Taiwan); Silver: GeNUS (Singapore); Bronze: HanSaRam-
VII (Korea) & CUG-Huro (China) (tie)
Penalty Kick - Gold: Pi (Taiwan); Silver: WIT-I (China); Bronze:
aiRobot 1 (Taiwan)
Weight Lifting - Gold: Pi (Taiwan); Silver: BEYOND I (Singapore);
Bronze: CUG-Huro (China)
Marathon - Gold: HanSaRam-VII (Korea); Silver: Pi (Taiwan); Bronze:
SURF1 (Singapore)

Combat:
340 lbs - Gold: Ziggy (Canada); Silver: The Judge (USA); Bronze:
Vladiator (USA)
220 lbs - Gold: Sewer Snake (USA); Silver: Last Rites (USA); Bronze:
Original Sin (USA)
120 lbs - Gold: Touro (Brazil); Silver: Pipe Wench (USA); Bronze:
SubZero (USA)
60 lbs - Gold: Touro Light (Brazil); Silver: K2 (USA); Bronze: Texas
HEAT (Canada)
30 lbs - Gold: Totally Offensive (USA); Silver: Proteus (USA);
Bronze: Whammo (USA)
12 lbs - Gold: Surgical Strike (USA); Silver: AlphaQ jr. (USA);
Bronze: Bullet (USA)
3 lbs - Gold: Dark Pummeler (USA); Silver: Itsa? (USA); Bronze:
Gutter Monkey (USA)
1 lb - Gold: Dark Pounder (USA); Silver: Dark Blade (USA); Bronze:
Revert (USA)
1 lb - Auto - Gold: Thinkling (USA); Silver: Spider (UK); Bronze:
Chopper (UK)
5.3 oz - Gold: Micro Drive (USA); Silver: Dark Bullit (USA); Bronze:
Skeet Skeet (Mexico)

Robo-One/Androids:
Kung-Fu (MiddleWt) - Gold: Oro (USA); Silver: Zog (USA); Bronze:
Rook's Pawn III (USA)
Kung-Fu (LightWt) - Gold: RN-! (USA); Silver: Kugai (USA); Bronze:
Nippy the Hippy (USA)
Acrobatics - Gold: Plen (Japan); Silver: Jx (Japan); Bronze: Felix (USA)
Stair Climbing - Gold: Kugai (USA); Silver: Moose (USA); Bronze:
Boomer (USA)
Biped Race - Gold: JSR-D1 (Japan); Silver: Zog (USA); Bronze: Oro (USA)

Sumo:
3kg - Auto - Gold: Zeta+ (Singapore); Silver: Alpha+ (Singapore);
Bronze: Judge+ (Singapore)
3kg - R/C - Gold: Zeta (Singapore); Silver: Alpha (Singapore);
Bronze: Judge (Singapore)
1kg - Lego - Gold: Tribble2.0 (USA); Silver: OMARCITO (USA); Bronze:
lego Warrior (USA)
500g - Auto - Gold: Wind (Singapore); Silver: Grace (Singapore);
Bronze: SensorKnight (Singapore)
100g - Auto - Gold: Pepe el toro (Mexico); Silver: PICaPek (USA);
Bronze: Alpha_Micro1 (Singapore)
25g - Auto - Gold: Hercules-Nano (Austria); Silver: n/a; Bronze: n/a

Open:
Line Slalom - Gold: Hektor (Austria); Silver: princesa amazona
(Mexico); Bronze: burrito de la comaye (Mexico)
Balancer Race - Gold: Flexo (USA); Silver: UPB-Juggler (Colombia);
Bronze: Balance Pak 1 (USA)
Fire-Fighting - Gold: Solenopsis invicta (USA); Silver: Flame Out
(USA); Bronze: ISIS (USA)
Robomagellan - Gold: Spybot (USA); Silver: Odyssey (USA); Bronze:
Intrepid (USA)
Walker Challenge - Gold: Ziggy (UK); Silver: Flik (UK); Bronze:
Angelo (Colombia)
Best of Show - Gold: HotShot (USA); Silver: R2PV1 (USA); Bronze:
Steam Beetle (Taiwan) & The Red Baron (USA) (tie)
Lego Open - Gold: orion II (USA); Silver: Golfer (USA); Bronze: Flik
(UK)

BEAM:
Speeder - Gold: Perihelion (USA); Silver: Hermes (Austria); Bronze: n/a
Photovore - Gold: Pegasus (Austria); Silver: Pooter (USA); Bronze:
Sunny (USA)

Hockey:
12 lbs - Gold: Team USA ; Silver: Team Canada ; Bronze: Team Brazil

Boxing:
RoBoxers - Gold: Johnny Apple Pie (USA); Silver: Boris Ruski
(Russia); Bronze: n/a

Tetsujin:
Weightlifting - Gold: LifeSuit 13 (USA); Silver: LifeSuit 14 (USA);
Bronze: n/a
Walking Race - Gold: LifeSuit 13 (USA); Silver: LifeSuit 14 (USA);
Bronze: n/a

Art Bots:
Static - Gold: Lockwasher 1 (USA); Silver: ChakraTron (USA) & Farad
(USA) (tie); Bronze: n/a
Kinetic - Gold: Giant Squid (USA); Silver: Steam Centipede (Taiwan);
Bronze: General Debris (USA)
Musical - Gold: Animal (USA); Silver: Arca Musarithmica 1 (USA);
Bronze: Musical Bugs (USA)
Bartending - Gold: CockBot One (Austria); Silver: bravo (USA);
Bronze: El Espanol Borracho (USA)
Painting - Gold: Gimpy2 (USA); Silver: Drawer Bot (USA); Bronze:
Brush & Ink (USA)

Junior League (under 18 yr old):
Woots & Snarks - Gold: Game Bot 2 (USA); Silver: Grasshopper (USA);
Bronze: orion (USA)
Lego Magellan - Gold: DannysMagellan (USA); Silver: Yoshi (USA);
Bronze: n/a
Lego Challenge - Gold: Race Bot 1 (USA); Silver: Santa's Little
Helper (USA); Bronze: Dragonfire (USA)
Lego Open - Gold: AquaKeeper 2.0 (USA); Silver: QuickBot2 (USA);
Bronze: Yoshi (USA)
500 g Sumo - Gold: Mister Fish (USA); Silver: n/a; Bronze: n/a
120 lb combat - Gold: Dolor (USA); Silver: Dolor's Hermana (USA);
Bronze: n/a
Vex Open - Gold: Robo William (USA); Silver: Backpack Robot (USA);
Bronze: MVMS - Vex Open (USA)
Best of Show - Gold: Binary Star - USA ; Silver: n/an/a

Medal Count
USA - Gold: 33; Silver: 34; Bronze: 27
Singapore - Gold: 6; Silver: 6; Bronze: 5
China - Gold: 3; Silver: 4; Bronze: 7
Taiwain - Gold: 6; Silver: 4; Bronze: 2
Austria - Gold: 4; Silver: 1; Bronze: 0
S. Korea - Gold: 1; Silver: 2; Bronze: 2
UK - Gold: 1; Silver: 2; Bronze: 2
Japan - Gold: 2; Silver: 1; Bronze: 0
Mexico - Gold: 1; Silver: 1; Bronze: 2
Brazil - Gold: 2; Silver: 0; Bronze: 1
Canada - Gold: 1; Silver: 1; Bronze: 1
Germany - Gold: 1; Silver: 1; Bronze: 1
Colombia - Gold: 0; Silver: 1; Bronze: 1
Russia - Gold: 0; Silver: 1; Bronze: 0

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