US Technology Students Prepare for 2014 RoboCup

美国学生为2014年机器人世界杯做准备

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。

The end of the World Cup does not mean the end of international competition in Brazil this year. A major football event will happen in the South American country later this month, but with teams of robots playing the game, which is known as soccer in the United States. The robot teams are guided by teams of humans from around the world. The event is known as RoboCup.

世界杯的结束并不意味着今年巴西国际比赛的结束。在这个月底，一场重大的的足球比赛将会在南美洲国家举行，但是不同的是这次是机器人团队参赛，这在美国被叫做足球。这些机器人队伍将会由来自世界各地的人类团队来指挥其完成比赛。这就是著名的机器人足球世界杯。

Technology students at the University of Pennsylvania are trying for their fourth victory at the competition, which is held this year in the coastal city Joao Pessoa. The students have won the last three RoboCup competitions.

美国宾州大学的技术学生赢得了前三届的冠军，现在他们正在为继续蝉联冠军做准备，此次比赛将会在沿海城市若昂佩索阿举行。

Watching robots play football is similar to watching children play the game. The kicks are not good, there's a lot of falling down, and people are there to guide and support the team members. Jian Qiao Li is one of the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania team.

观看机器人足球比赛就像看儿童比赛，踢的并不好，它们会经常摔倒，人们在那指挥和支持这些机器人队员。李剑桥是宾州大学团队的负责人之一。

He says one goal he has for the robot team is to make sure the machines can find the goal and the ball. He also wants the robots to be able to know where they are on the playing field. And he wants the team to be able to better control the walking and kicking abilities of the robots.

他称他对机器人球队的一个目标就是确保这些机器能够找到球门和球。他还希望这些机器人能够知道自己在场上的位置，希望球队能够更好的控制机器人行走和踢球能力。

Qin He is another leader of the robot team. She says the abilities of the robots increase every year. Ms. He says the US team is meeting its goals.

机器人球队的另一位负责人何琴表示，机器人的能力每年都在提升。何女士还表示，这支美国球队正在实现它的目标。

The robots know the differences between the colors green and red, and they can decide where to go and where the ball is on the playing field. She says if there are three robot players on the field at the same time, they will communicate with each other to decide the different responsibilities for each robot.

机器人知道绿色和红色之间的差别，它们能够知道走向哪，知道球在足球场的什么位置。她说，如果同时有三名机器人球员在场上，它们将会进行互相沟通以决定每个机器人的责任。

U.S. team member Christopher Akatsuka hopes for another victory in Brazil. The team has won the RoboCup the past three years in the Netherlands, Mexico and Turkey.

美国队队员克里斯托弗·赤冢希望可以在巴西再次取得胜利。这支队伍过去三年在荷兰、墨西哥和土耳其举行的机器人世界杯中都取得了胜利。

"They have very good team player right now. As long as their detection is good, I think they'll be very competitive; we just hope to compete against the real good German teams, because the Germans always do very well," says Akatsuka.

赤冢说：“现在他们有很好的球员，只要它们发挥好侦测能力，它们就会很有竞争力。我们只是希望可以和真正的强队德国队对决，因为德国队一直做得很好。”

Mr Akatsuka says RoboCup is an exciting technology competition.

赤冢先生称，机器人世界杯是一项令人激动的科技竞赛。

"Each team develops their own software; basically it's a competition of who has the best software, who has the best decision-making at a given point... it's really exciting," says Akatsuka.

赤冢说：“每支团队开发了自己的软件，这基本上是一场看谁拥有最好的软件的竞赛，在特定地点谁可以有最好决策的比赛……这真的激动人心。”

The event begins July 19th and ends July 25th. Some RoboCup participants hope to develop a team of robots that can play against humans by 2050.

这场比赛将会在今年7月19日开始，7月25日结束。一些机器人世界杯参加者希望可以组建一支机器人球队在2050年用来和人类球队进行对决。

And that's the VOA Learning English Technology Report. I'm Jonathan Evans.

这就是本期的美国之音慢速英语科技报道，我是乔纳森·埃文斯。

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.

The end of the World Cup does not mean the end of international competition in Brazil this year. A major football event will happen in the South American country later this month, but with teams of robots playing the game, which is known as soccer in the United States. The robot teams are guided by teams of humans from around the world. The event is known as RoboCup.

Technology students at the University of Pennsylvania are trying for their fourth victory at the competition, which is held this year in the coastal city Joao Pessoa. The students have won the last three RoboCup competitions.

Watching robots play football is similar to watching children play the game. The kicks are not good, there's a lot of falling down, and people are there to guide and support the team members. Jian Qiao Li is one of the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania team.

He says one goal he has for the robot team is to make sure the machines can find the goal and the ball. He also wants the robots to be able to know where they are on the playing field. And he wants the team to be able to better control the walking and kicking abilities of the robots.

Qin He is another leader of the robot team. She says the abilities of the robots increase every year. Ms. He says the US team is meeting its goals.

The robots know the differences between the colors green and red, and they can decide where to go and where the ball is on the playing field. She says if there are three robot players on the field at the same time, they will communicate with each other to decide the different responsibilities for each robot.

U.S. team member Christopher Akatsuka hopes for another victory in Brazil. The team has won the RoboCup the past three years in the Netherlands, Mexico and Turkey.

"They have very good team player right now. As long as their detection is good, I think they'll be very competitive; we just hope to compete against the real good German teams, because the Germans always do very well," says Akatsuka.

Mr Akatsuka says RoboCup is an exciting technology competition.

"Each team develops their own software; basically it's a competition of who has the best software, who has the best decision-making at a given point... it's really exciting," says Akatsuka.

The event begins July 19th and ends July 25th. Some RoboCup participants hope to develop a team of robots that can play against humans by 2050.

And that's the VOA Learning English Technology Report. I'm Jonathan Evans.