The Robots' version of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil

Paris, France - July 18th 2014- From July 21st until July 24th, Aldebaran, the World leader in humanoid robotics, will be showcasing at the RoboCup in Joao Pessoa (Brazil) its latest generation of NAO, NAO EVOLUTION, with its NAOqi 2.0™ operating system.

Only a few days after the end of the FIFA World Cup, it is now over to robots to battle it out!

For the 7th year running, Aldebaran and its NAO will be taking part in the RoboCup: the international robotics competition founded in 1997 by universities from around the World. Every year, this event is a highlight in the calendar of programming engineers and students who take part with a view to rising up to the challenges of robotics on soccer pitches!

This year, the RoboCup will be attended by 31 teams in the Standard Platform League where NAO has been the robot of reference since 2008. This is an unprecedented opportunity to attend football games where the robot's capabilities are pushed to the limits.

For this 2014 edition, the participation of Aldebaran will be three-fold:

*workshop sessions will be held on the Aldebaran's dedicated stand offering an introduction or a more advanced training in the programming of NAO.;

*technical support will be provided to those teams participating in the football competition ;

*a competition on Facebook designed for the older and the younger participants alike will be testing their knowledge about the participation of NAO in the RoboCup. Please log in here.

Every new version of NAO is a step closer to the ultimate objective: making it possible for a team of humanoid robots to take on the 2050 FIFA World Cup winners!

To follow the competition on Twitter, please click here.

For more information on NAO EVOLUTION, please click here.
About the RoboCup

The first edition of the RoboCup took place in Nagoya (Japan) in 1997. The RoboCup is a non-profit making organisation led by academics working on a volunteer basis.

For more information, please click here.
About Aldebaran

Established in 2005 by Bruno Maisonnier and with offices in France, China, Japan, and the United States, Aldebaran designs, manufactures and sells autonomous humanoid robots to contribute to human well-being. More than 5,000 NAOs, our first product, are used today as a research and education platform in 70 countries around the world. Aldebaran has 500 employees involved in robot development and manufacture. Aldebaran is a SoftBank Group company, holding 78.5% of its own capital.

Further information: www.aldebaran.com