Robot-Goalkeeper Technology: Germany’s Latest...

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No Need For Real Players Anymore
Published 5/7/2008 by chris at The Offside
... | May 7th, 2008 That’s it, ladies and gents. It’s only a matter of time before Big Bucks Abramovich is swooping down in his helicopter and he’s buying up the best robots money can buy. This is Goalias . He’s a robot designed by the University of Stuttgart in the mold of a goalkeeper (presumably after the home team’s Champions League run). Goalias is a cardboard cut out placed on a running track attached to video cameras and all sorts of fancy equipment which, as you can see, can track the path of the ball. First player to test it out was Mario Gomez. The robot saved half of ...

Germany unveil secret weapon before Euro 2008
Published 5/9/2008 by Anish at SoccerBlog.com
... Gomez, tried last week to outwit Goalias, shooting indoors at a full-size goal mouth from 11 metres out. Scientists have since fine-tuned Goalias and it can hold every second kick from Mario Gomez. The robot uses three video cameras to calculate the ball's trajectory and move a plastic keeper figure on a rail left or right to block it, all within 400 milliseconds. Goalias' weak point: it could still be fooled by some hard curving shots with plenty of spin.More on that story here...