Postscript

RoboCup finished on the Thursday with a big buffet dinner - an odd occasion, with 1400 people milling around trying out the different food (Singapore is a melting pot of cuisines). Meanwhile various groups of locals - mainly students - had been roped in to provide the entertainment, with dancing from the traditional to the very modern. (The Junior attendees had their own party this time. I guess this was due to the shear numbers involved, but again I think that this enforced separation was unfortunate.)

RoboCup is an intriguing event. As I've mentioned before, there's nothing like the competition setting for putting onto us all the sorts of pressure our robots and systems might need to put up with if they are to be deployed for real. The Junior events are also great for getting young people enthused about science and technology in general.

The RoboCup Foundation - who oversee all this stuff - clearly are concerned of the size of this event, and with reason. Their response is to try to put more importance onto the regional events. For us in the UK, that mainly means the German Open event, and also the Iranian Open, both of which are held in the spring. (It might come as a surprise to hear how big RoboCup is in Iran. I don't know why this is, but they seem to have taken it to their hearts!) There's also going to be a small RoboCup event in Wales in August, as part of the National Eisteddfod, which we'll be helping with!

As I say, the Iranians were in Singapore in force. The other country to dominate the proceedings were the Chinese. Not that we should be really surprised that the country containing a quarter of the world's population should do well, but it certainly means that the rest of us have to look out in future!