By participating in Salvador, B-Human competed in its 16th RoboCup World Championship. The current team consists of seven students from the University of Bremen, one doctoral candidate, and the supervising scientists Dr. Thomas Röfer from the DFKI Cyber-Physical Systems research department, headed by Prof. Dr. Rolf Drechsler, and Dr. Tim Laue from the University of Bremen. Since 2017, CONTACT Software — a leading provider of solutions for product lifecycle management and digital transformation — has been the main sponsor of B-Human. Additional sponsors include cellumation, Ubica Robotics, Just Add AI, and the University of Bremen Alumni Association.
About RoboCup
RoboCup is one of the largest and most prestigious robotics competitions worldwide. Its goal is to advance the development of robots and their artificial intelligence so they can operate autonomously without direct human control. Organized by the non-profit RoboCup Federation, the tournament has been held annually since 1997. Participating teams typically come from universities, research institutions, and industry.
One tournament, many competitions
At RoboCup, robots do not only play soccer but also compete in other disciplines: RoboCupRescue simulates rescue scenarios where robots locate and recover victims, while RoboCup@Home challenges robots with household tasks. Within the Soccer League, there are five sub-leagues differentiated by the type of robots used. B-Human competed in the Standard Platform League, where all teams use the same robot hardware. Success here mainly depends on skillful software development.
A special RoboCup
The RoboCup 2025 was special in two respects. For the first time, B-Human won a competition on the American continent. Despite numerous previous world championships, earlier attempts in Mexico City (2012, 2nd place), João Pessoa (2014, 3rd place), and Montréal (2018, 2nd place) had not led to victory. This negative streak was now broken. It was a double success, as B-Human also won the technical challenge, which focused on shooting rolling balls and innovations for the future of the league.
Furthermore, this was the last competition in the Standard Platform League. Starting in 2026, a new competition for humanoid soccer robots will begin, featuring different robot models. B-Human will participate there as well.
