This year’s RoboCup symposium held in Bangkok, Thailand marks the 25th anniversary of the event, an international competition dedicated to the advancement of robotic and artificial intelligence technologies. The original goal of the event was to get the state of robotics in robust enough shape that one might field a team of robotic soccer players capable of beating a World Cup champion (human) team by 2050 – but a lot has changed since 1997.

RoboCup

Both the event and its mechanical entrants have evolved by leaps and bounds in the intervening years. The number of teams participating has ballooned tenfold since the inaugural event, from 38 to more than 300, with competitors now coming from more than 40 nations worldwide. And rather than fall down stairs, today’s cutting-edge humanoid constructs are backflipping off them.

“We think of [the competition] as a grand challenge akin to the Apollo missions that sought to land a person on the moon,” Dr. Peter Stone, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin and Executive Director of Sony AI America, told Engadget via email. “In both cases, one might reasonably ask, why is it worthwhile to try to achieve such a goal? What do we gain by landing a person on the moon? What do we gain by creating superhuman soccer playing robots?”

“In the case of the Apollo mission, there were several spin-off technologies in areas such as remote telemetry, body monitoring, breathing apparatuses, fabric structures, communications, and food packaging,” he continued. ”In the case of RoboCup, there have been several start-up companies founded by RoboCup participants using RoboCup technologies, most prominently Kiva Systems which became Amazon Robotics.”

“This vision inspired my early research on AI planning and machine learning in multiagent systems,” Stone wrote in a 2021 Sony AI blog, “and has continued to inspire my research and that of my students on these areas and robot learning throughout the years.”

The ideas that led to the RoboCup — can you use a soccer competition to promote robotics and AI research — had been percolating in the academic space since the early 1990s, according to RoboCup, though it wasn't until 1995’s International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence that the official groundwork for a RoboCup competition was laid. Following a requisite two-year gap for teams to sort funding and training, Nagoya, Japan hosted the first event with more than 5,000 spectators in attendance.

Today, teams can compete in both simulated and physical soccer matches using an array of humanoid robots — sorted into divisions by size, capability, and pedalness — as well as pit their robotic first responders against the Cup’s hazard-strewn disaster courses, best one another at robo-buttling in the @Home competition, and devise the most efficient warehouse floor operation in Industry. There’s even a dedicated league for junior roboticists that spans the fields of soccer, search and rescue, and on-stage performance.

“One of the most important scientific contributions of RoboCup has been to demonstrate how competitions can drive research and also provide a way of objectively benchmarking different technologies,” Dr. Claude Sammut, Head of the Artificial Intelligence Research Group at the University of New South Wales and Deputy Director of the iCinema Centre for Interactive Cinema Research, told Engadget.

Sammut notes RoboCup Rescue as one valuable benchmarking example. The competition is supported, in part, by the US National Institute for Standard and Technology (NIST). “The arena uses the test methods developed by NIST to measure the performance of robots for disaster recovery and ordnance disposal. Each year, the test methods are updated to reflect real-world experience, so teams are encouraged to extend the capabilities of their robots to handle increasingly complex tasks.”

Training robots to play soccer “is a great problem to work on because it needs progress across most areas of AI and robotics (and it’s fun and motivating for students),” Sammut said, but learning that game won’t teach robots all they need to know about navigating in the wider world. The Cup’s Rescue course requires the robot to overcome unknown terrain to extract victims while @Home demands robust human-robot interaction and planning skills. “Humans working with robots is an important goal, so introducing domestic service robots pushes us in that direction,” he said.

That skill development has kept apace with the field’s steady stream of hardware advancements. Sammut points to “the massive increases in performance of low cost, low power CPUs and GPUs” to handle a greater degree of processing onboard, as well as the precipitous price drop of sensory equipment. “The first depth camera we bought for our rescue robots in 2006 cost €10,000. Now you can buy much better ones for a few hundred dollars and your iPhone and iPad have them built in.”

That said, even with a quarter century of technological advancements, today’s RoboCup competitors more closely resemble old Asimo than they do Sonny. Matches aren’t so much fast moving spectacles of mechanical might and sport prowess as they are watching a pair of toddering automatons shuffle after a ball while their developers trail behind them, ready to intervene in the event of a misstep or stumble.

“Motors and batteries have improved somewhat but they need further development to be able to get better speed, agility and lifetime,” Sammut conceded. “Soft, light but strong materials would also make the robots safer to be around. I wouldn't want to be on the field with the current large humanoid robots because a tackle would really hurt!”

For the first time in series history, EA’s next NHL entry will feature a female player on the cover. On Wednesday, the publisher announced Team Canada’s Sarah Nurse would be one of two athletes to grace the cover of NHL 23, marking another first for the franchise. She’ll join Anaheim Ducks superstar Trevor Zegras. The two are among the most talented young players in the game today.

Nurse, who is biracial, was dominant during the Bejing Winter Olympics earlier this year. In helping Team Canada reclaim the women’s hockey gold after a disappointing silver medal finish in 2018, she set two Olympic records for most points and most assists in a single women’s tournament. She also became the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal in hockey.

As for Zegras, even if you’re not a hockey fan, you’ve probably seen his plays in many a highlight reel. He’s known for his creative decision-making, often scoring the kind of goals you see in lacrosse, not hockey. In his first full season with the Anaheim Ducks, he netted 23 goals and 38 assists across 75 games. That performance earned him second in voting for the NHL’s rookie of the year award last season.

EA will reveal more about NHL 23 when the first trailer drops tomorrow at 11AM ET.

NBA 2K23 isn't the only major sports game that 2K will release in the next couple of months. The publisher has revealed that PGA Tour 2K23 will arrive on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Steam on October 11th. Two versions will be available on that date: the deluxe edition and the Tiger Woods edition. 2K will release the standard edition on October 14th.

This is the first game in 2K's PGA Tour series since it brought in Woods last year to work with HB Studios as an executive director and consultant. Not only is Woods one of the most successful golfers of all time, he was also the face of EA Sports' golf games for 15 years.

As you might expect, Woods is a playable character in PGA Tour 2K23. Other pros who are available at the outset include Justin Thomas, Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris, Brooke Henderson. More will be added later. There are 20 licensed courses — including South Course of Wilmington Country Club, The Renaissance Club and St. George’s Golf and Country Club — and you'll be able to create your own.

You can try new casual modes, including Topgolf, where you hit targets and try to achieve the highest score. Online modes include custom tournaments and full seasons with friends. There's also a Clubhouse Pass (with free and premium tiers) that will include post-launch content.

Both the deluxe and digital-only Tiger Woods editions include the PS4 and PS5 versions, or Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game. Other bonuses include virtual currency and cosmetic items. If you pre-order the standard edition (or buy the other two editions) you'll receive a bonus pack that includes NBA legend Michael Jordan as a playable character.

Paramount+ will be the home of UEFA Champions League soccer for the rest of the decade. Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS) has secured a six-year extension to stream the glitzy annual soccer tournament until the end of the 2029-30 season. The deal includes the English-language rights to the Europa League and Europa Conference League, the second and third tiers of international European club soccer competition.

The agreement is valued at over $1.5 billion, meaning that Paramount Global will pay around $250 million per year. That's a steep increase from the $100 million per year the company is currently paying, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news. Several media companies are said to have been interested in the Champions League rights, with Paramount believed to have pipped Amazon.

The deal marks an extension of the current agreement Paramount has with UEFA, which will expire in 2024. Although some Champions League games air on Paramount-owned networks like CBS and CBS Sports Network, Paramount+ streams all of them. The service will continue to do so for another eight years.

The latest pact runs through the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the US, Canada and Mexico and is expected to make the sport even more popular in North America. Paramount (which also has the rights to broadcast Serie A, some CONCACAF international games, the National Women's Soccer League and the Women's Super League) aired the 2022 Champions League final on CBS and drew record ratings. It was also the most-streamed soccer match ever on Paramount+.

“UEFA has been a key driver for Paramount+ since our launch and we are thrilled to extend this successful partnership showcasing even more world-class soccer through the 2029-30 season, building on the incredible momentum we have created the past two years,” CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said in a statement.

Nexus Mods, a popular mod database, has posted a strongly worded update about the Spider-Man Remastered patch that was created to remove Pride flags in-game. The website's administrator, Dark0ne, has revealed that the mod was uploaded by a sock puppet under the name "Mike Hawk." They said the fact that it was added to the database by a secondary account shows the uploader's intent to troll and demonstrates their understanding that it would not be allowed on the database. As such, the website has decided to remove the patch from its repository and to ban both the user's main account and sock puppet.

Spider-Man Remastered was released for the PC a few days ago. It's a refresh of the original title developed by Insomniac Games, which has since been purchased by Sony Interactive, and was released back in 2019. In the game, you'll see Pride flags around New York as you swing around the city as Spider-Man, and some players were apparently offended by their presence. The mod Mike Hawk released replaces those Pride flags with the flag of the USA.

"We are for inclusivity, we are for diversity," Dark0ne wrote in their post. They vowed to do a better job of moderating their website and ensuring that their policy is followed more closely going forward. The administrator said that the website will take action if someone uploads a file with the intent to be deliberately against inclusivity and/or diversity. Based on how the website addressed this particular issue, it will likely hand out bans in the future if they're warranted. Of course, Dark0ne and their team can only police what's uploaded on Nexus Mods. Seeing as it's one of the largest repositories around, though, its team's stance could make an impact and help slow the spread of certain game modifications.

One of the best games of 2020 is leaving Game Pass. As of August 31st, Supergiant’s Hades won’t be available through Microsoft’s subscription gaming service anymore. If you haven’t played it yet, Hades is nothing short of a gem. It’s an action RPG made by the team behind Bastion, Transistor and Pyre. Few games offer an experience as cohesive as Hades. The art, music, story and gameplay elements all come together to elevate one another. Hades can also be tough-as-nails but it never feels unfair.

It’s one of a few games leaving Game Pass on the 31st. Other notable titles on their way out include Myst, Spiritfarer, Two Point Hospital and What Remains of Edith Finch. In August, there aren’t many noteworthy games coming in to replace those titles, but if Hades scratched a love for ancient Greek mythology, you’ll want to check out Ubisoft’s Immortals Fenyx Rising. It’s an open-world action RPG with an irreverent sense of humor. 

With a second-place finish in Formula E's 100th E-Prix today, Stoffel Vandoorne secured the Season 8 Formula E world championship. The Mercedes-EQ driver made it back-to-back trophies for the team in both the drivers' and the team championships as fellow Silver Arrows pilot Nyck de Vries was the defending series champ. While Vandoorne was no match for Round 16 winner Edoardo Mortara, a podium finish after a P4 qualifying effort was enough to hold off his lone championship challenger during the final race.

Jaguar TCS' Mitch Evans put Vandoorne under pressure yesterday by winning the penultimate E-Prix in wet conditions. The Mercedes-EQ driver finished 5th, but was unable to extend the comfortable lead he had in the championship standings heading into the Seoul double-header. However, Evans couldn't replicate yesterday's magic: he only managed a seventh-place finish after starting P13.

"Just look at the season we've had," said Vandoorne. "The consistency and the car has been amazing, and the team has done an incredible job. I think every single one of us deserves it. What we've accomplished is something special."

Sunday's race marks the end of the Gen2 era in Formula E. When the series begins Season 9 in January, the Gen3 racer will be in every team's garage. The new design, which is both lighter and smaller than the Gen2 model, should allow for more “agile” wheel-to-wheel racing. These cars should be two to four seconds faster in both qualifying and race conditions thanks to an electric motor can deliver 350kW of power (470BHP) to reach top speeds of 200MPH (320 km/h). Formula E says the electric power units can convert over 90 percent of their energy to mechanical power and around 40 percent of the energy cars will use during an E-Prix will be produced by regenerative braking. Gen3 will also be the first Formula car ever with both front and rear powertrains, which will add 250kW to the 350kW in the back. 

When the checkered flag drops Sunday in Seoul, Formula E will have run its 100th race. It’s a far cry from the series’ humble beginnings: a shared idea from Formula E chairman Alejandro Agag and FIA president Jean Todt, jotted down on a napkin in 2011. In three years, a group launched the world’s first all-electric single-seater championship. And the rest, as they say, is history.

“The people that we knew were laughing about the venture,” Formula E co-founder and chief championship officer Alberto Longo said on a call with the media last week. “And now, look how far we’ve come.”

Longo’s assessment is accurate. Formula E has indeed come a long way since Season 1 and that first race at Olympic Park in Beijing. Most notably, the series has become a hotbed for innovation with a number automakers fielding teams. Mahindra has been there from the start, with Audi, BMW, DS, Jaguar, Mercedes, Nissan, Porsche, Renault and others participating along the way. Several teams — like Mahindra, Venturi and Andretti — have also remained active in Formula E since that first season.

“Race 100 is a huge validation of the work people have done,” Longo said. “Everybody was saying we were going to fail.”

With all of that in its past, only one driver is poised to drive in all 100 E-Prix: Season 3 champion Lucas di Grassi. He also won the first-ever race back in 2014, amassing 13 wins and 38 podium finishes since. This weekend in Seoul, he’s on the verge of eclipsing 1,000 career points. So, he knows a thing or two about how far the series has come.

Sebastian Frej/MB Media via Getty Images

“Since Season 1, there have been massive changes,” di Grassi said during a media roundtable. “It has matured and it has moved from being something new and full of doubts to something which has been able to deliver on its promises.” He explained that Formula E is just like any other racing series now when you consider teams that have come and gone, and those that may return.

The Gen2 car debuted in 2018/19 for Season 5 with double the energy storage capacity of Gen1, which meant teams no longer needed to trade out cars during the race — or pit at all for that matter. Of course, the cars are faster, but one car per driver also meant the stakes were that much higher on E-Prix weekends.

“When we went from Gen1 to Gen2, you could actually see that the technology was starting to work,” Longo said. “We moved from having to use two cars to only one car.”

Gen2 also debuted a more “Batmobile-esque” design, with more power and a top speed of 174MPH. One of Formula E’s unique elements, Attack Mode, also arrived with Gen 2, giving drivers a timed power boost. The only catch is they have to leave the main racing line to activate it, which can mean sacrificing position for the extra power.

"The technology is only getting better and the cars are getting faster,” di Grassi explained. “Every month the battery tech, powertrain tech and so on evolves. It’s still in its relative infancy and we’re going to see big leaps still going forward."

Like every sport in the world, Formula E had to deal with the effects of a global pandemic in 2020. The series had completed just five races by the end of February when everyone, everywhere entered lockdown due to COVID-19. The season was suspended in mid-March. Formula E would emerge that August in Berlin, holding six E-Prix in nine days at the Tempelhof Airport.

“Looking back, those six races in Berlin were really important for us,” Longo said. “During COVID, we managed to mitigate the risk of traveling and finish the season.”

It’s fitting then that Formula E’s 100th race marks the end of the Gen2 era. When the series returns in 2023 for Season 9, the Gen3 car will be in every team’s garage. Formula E has already shown off “the world’s most efficient racing car,” unveiling the design and key specs ahead of the Monaco E-Prix in April. Indeed, the jump to the next generation will deliver another massive leap in innovation for the series. A top speed of 200MPH with 350kW of power, 100kW more than Gen2. The electric power units can convert over 90 percent of their energy to mechanical power, making them insanely efficient. Not to mention producing around 40 percent of the power needed to complete a race through regenerative braking. Plus, there’s a new body design that’s decidedly more F-18 fighter jet than Batmobile. And overall, the new cars should allow for tighter wheel-to-wheel racing across Formula E’s calendar of street circuits.

“We’ll drive much faster, smaller and lighter cars which will be even more impressive to see on-track,” di Grassi said. “The events are going in the right direction, providing a better and better product for fans to come and involve themselves with. The evolution will continue in this way — on the technical side and in the spectacle."

Formula E’s impact hasn’t been solely on the race track either. di Grassi knows the series has opened the world’s eyes to the potential of EVs.

“We can also see how many more people are interested in and aware of electric vehicles,” he noted. "For me, even if you help a little bit, this little bit has already helped to accelerate the advent of technology and change perceptions of consumers and manufacturers about electric cars — so it’s been well worth it.”

Formula E

Both the 100th race and the end of Season 8 are poised to be must-see TV. There’s a four-way fight for this year’s championship, with Mercedes-EQ’s Stoffel Vandoorne sitting atop the standings, holding a 36-point lead. Jaguar TCS’ Mitch Evans and ROKiT Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara sit 2nd and 3rd, separated by five points. Both Mortara and 4th-place Jean-Eric Verne failed to score any points in the last two rounds during the double-header in London.

Mercedes-EQ could not only snatch its second consecutive driver’s trophy (its other driver Nyck de Vries is the defending champ), it’s leading the team standings heading into the last two races by 36 points. A team championship would make two in a row for Mercedes, and the perfect ending before McLaren takes over the team next season.

There’s no denying the sport’s popularity has grown in eight years and it’s poised to continue the upward trajectory. The Jakarta E-Prix in early June was watched live by 13.4 million people — just in Indonesia. It was the first time the series had hosted an event in that city too, and over 60,000 fans attended in-person. Celebrating the most memorable moments, Longo mentioned Jakarta when listing off key achievements during the 100-race stint.

“The most-watched race in Formula E history,” Longo said.

In NBA 2K23, 2K Sports is bringing the Jordan Challenge mode from NBA 2K11 back with some serious upgrades. The publisher has revealed more details about the game mode, which features 15 key moments from Michael Jordan’s career. It includes the 1982 NCAA National Championship, the "Flu Game" and (spoiler) Jordan's game-winning shot at the 1998 NBA Finals.

Developer Visual Concepts seems to have gone all out to make the mode (which it rebuilt from scratch) as authentic as possible. “Our team took everything into consideration when constructing this game mode; the arenas, the players, the uniforms, the broadcast, and the play style of the era have been accounted for in an effort to give fans a truly authentic and unique playable Jordan experience,” Visual Concepts VP of NBA development Erick Boenisch said in a statement.

That goes right down to making sure the on-screen graphics were accurate to the era and including filters that try to replicate what it was like to watch these moments (many of which were featured in The Last Dance) on TV in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Each of the challenges has a pre-game interview with someone who was part of that moment, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dennis Rodman and Phil Jackson. In addition, 2K brought in analyst Mike Fratello to join the commentary team and former Chicago Bulls announcer Ray Clay to make the introductions. Of course, 2K had to make sure The Alan Parsons Project's "Sirius" was part of the soundtrack too.

Perhaps even more importantly, Visual Concepts sought to match the gameplay to how things were like in the NBA when Jordan was in his pomp. 2K says the mode puts more emphasis on the post and mid-range game and aligning transitions with how they were commonly used in the ‘80s. Certain players, such as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, have signature play styles and moves (including Johnson's no-look passes). The action should have an extra layer of physicality, with the Detroit Pistons defense in particular trying to muscle Jordan out of taking shots.

The Jordan Challenge mode will be available on all the many versions of NBA 2K23. PC and current-gen console players will likely get the best experience, if the mode's impressive trailer is anything to judge by.

Would you rather oversee your FIFA Mobile team than control your players' every last step? You now have your chance. EA has introduced a Manager Mode to the Android and iOS title that has you focusing on strategy and tactics rather than action. You choose the starting lineup, set the tactics in real-time (such as attacking or countering) and let your team play. You can even queue multiple matches as you climb the division ranks.

The corresponding game update also improves goalkeepers, adds player switching options and offers kits for 30 national teams. The upgrade is available now.

This doesn't turn FIFA Mobile into a management sim like Football Manager. You aren't scouting talent, shaping training programs or wrestling with the team's board. Think of this more as the soccer equivalent to an auto battler like Auto Chess or Teamfight Tactics — it's a slightly more relaxed experience that does more to reward situational awareness than fast reflexes.