Defending the title without conceding a goal: B-Human triumphs again at the RoboCup German Open 2025

Outstanding performance from start to final whistle

From the first minute of play, B-Human dominated the tournament, winning every match with ease. The autonomous NAO robots showed their exceptional skills in the preliminary round and finished with a goal difference of 44:0. This made the Bremen team the only one of the ten participating teams to have a positive goal difference. In the quarterfinals, the team extended this record to 73-0 with a 10-0 win over R-ZWEI KICKERS from Kaiserslautern, followed by a 10-0 win over SPQR from Italy in the semifinals and a 9-0 win over the HULKs from Hamburg in the final. As in previous years, B-Human's precise passing was particularly impressive.

Dr. Thomas Röfer, B-Human project manager and researcher at DFKI's Cyber-Physical Systems department, points out: 

"Every title we win confirms that our research in AI-controlled robotics is on the right track. Our robots are constantly evolving – in terms of tactics, game understanding and perception. These developments are key to the future of autonomous systems."

Progress in autonomous game control

Each year the RoboCup rules become more and more similar to human soccer. This year, the focus in the Standard Platform League is on the interaction with the human referee. Normally, robots receive the referee's decisions by radio. Recently, however, kickoffs and goals have also been announced by whistles, which means that the robots must be able to hear them. Last year, the transmission of information through the referee's gestures was introduced, which the robots have to recognize visually. Initially, this was the signal for the robots to enter the field at the start of a half. This year, the referee will also use gestures to indicate which team is allowed to take a standard situation - whether it's a free kick, penalty kick, corner kick, goal kick or throw-in.

Next challenge: RoboCup World Championship

With the victory in Nuremberg, B-Human is now focusing on its next big goal: the RoboCup World Championship 2025, which will take place in Salvador, Brazil from July 15-21. There, the team aims to continue its success and win the World Championship title once again.