Nearly 300 teams from 37 countries are gearing up to compete at RoboCup 2007 Atlanta, the world's most renowned competition for research robotics, at the Georgia Institute of Technology July 3-10.

"One of RoboCup's great strengths is its diverse international flavor," said Tucker Balch, Georgia Tech College of Computing associate professor and RoboCup 2007 Atlanta general chair. "We are able to get people together from many countries and backgrounds to share our research and ideas for making robots more effective."

China, Japan, Iran, Israel, Germany and Brazil are just a few of the countries being represented at the robotics showcase. In all, approximately 1,700 students and faculty from leading universities, high schools, middle schools and elementary schools will compete in events ranging from four-legged and humanoid robotic soccer games to search-and-rescue competitions. This year's event features a demonstration of the Nanogram League, a competition between microscopic robots.

This year's contest also marks the first time since 2001 that RoboCup has been held on a university campus.

"RoboCup has an ambitious goal -- namely to field a robot soccer team that can defeat the human world champions by 2050. This goal is meant to drive robotics research and education forward faster, and nearly all RoboCup participants come from research universities," said Balch. "So, it makes perfect sense that RoboCup should return to its roots on a university campus."

RoboCup 2007 Atlanta invites interested media to register online to attend and receive updates at www.robocup-us.org/press/.

KUKA Robotics Corporation, a leading global manufacturer of industrial robots, is the event's premier sponsor. Other major sponsors include Microsoft, CITIZEN, Lockheed Martin and the National Science Foundation.

This summer is Robot Summer at Georgia Tech. In addition to RoboCup 2007 Atlanta, Georgia Tech will also host several other robotics-related events, including the Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) conference and an International Aerial Robotics Competition.

Countries represented at RoboCup 2007 Atlanta:
Australia
Austria
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Finland
Germany
Greece
Hungary
India
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Romania
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States