Europe's largest robotics competition: exciting events draw people to Nuremberg

The RoboCup German Open took place in the Frankenhalle in Nuremberg. From March 12 to 16, 2025, around 1,000 researchers, students and schoolchildren from 13 countries will compete in the field of robotics. Alexander Ferrein, co-organizer of the event, told the news portal News5 that the event is “the largest robotics competition in Europe”. The competition is divided into four different areas. As explained on the event website, the RoboCup is also an opportunity for participants to present their innovations. According to Ferrein, the aim is to pursue a specific goal in each competition category.

Football tournament with robots: RoboCup in Nuremberg shows what the latest technology can do

RoboCup Soccer is the first category of the competition. As the name suggests, robots compete against each other in soccer matches. The origin of this competition goes back to 1997, when the RoboCup was founded to promote research in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence. Ferrein explains that soccer was chosen as the competition format because of its universally understood scenario. One of the RoboCup organizers said: “The goal of the RoboCup is to have humanoid robots beat the reigning world champion in soccer by the year 2050.”

The German Open also includes the ”Rescue“ and ”@Home" categories, in which robots are designed to support emergency services and act as assistants in the home. Robots are taking on important tasks in industry, automation, logistics and handling. Due to current technical developments, artificial intelligence also plays a central role at the RoboCup. The robots are used in soccer, for example, in decision-making and environment perception.

In the junior division, students are gently introduced to the topic of artificial intelligence and have the opportunity to gain valuable experience. Although the participants compete against each other in the competitions, the focus is always on friendship. Ferrein explains: “The teams naturally want to compete against each other, but there is a very open atmosphere.” The participants regularly exchange ideas and sometimes even make their software available to each other – something that the co-organizer of the RoboCup particularly appreciates.