Thai students won third place in World RoboCupSoccer

Revenger robots from Thailand are competing in the RoboCupSoccer field.

Plasma Z, the robot soccer team from Chulalongkorn University, grabbed third prize and won the Best Technical Challenge award at the recent World RoboCup 2006 competition in Bremen, Germany.

Plasma Z team from Thailand (right) beats RFC Cambridge team from the US with scores 10-0.

The team competed in the small-sized league RoboCupSoccer category, in which two teams of five robots played soccer against each other. All robots are maneuvered via on-board sensors and wireless communications, completely free from human contact except to place and remove the robots into and from the field.

"This is the first year that Thai students have been so successful in the global competition," said associate professor Dr Prabhas Chongstitvatana, the president of Thai Robotics Society. "And it is not just a contest but a serious exercise in research development in the field of robotics and related sciences. The students today come across the river of theory and into the real world."

Plasma Z team from Thailand beats B-Smart team from Germany with scores 10-0.

This year, 20 teams from around the world participated in this category, including teams from Japan, Singapore, Finland, the USA, and Germany. Plasma Z won a total of five matches, with one draw and one loss. The team beat the second seed Field Ranger from Singapore with the score of 2:1 goals. This win has put Plasma Z into the first seed of Asia.

Plasma-Z consists of 11 fourth-year students from Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Engineering and is the co-champion of Thailand RoboCup 2006, which is supported and organised by the Thai Robotics Society and Seagate Technology Thailand.