RoboCup 2009, the world s largest robotics event, kicked off Wednesday in the southern Austrian city of Graz, with some 400 teams and 2,000 robots ready to compete in sports and rescue operations.
On two or four legs, with wheels or virtually on a screen, robots of all sizes will battle it out on the football pitch the most popular event but also face off in a dance competition and domestic chores.
Participants from 44 countries are split into two categories, juniors and seniors, with the former dedicated to robots programmed by young people aged between 10 and 19.
Suitably for the occasion, robots performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, marking the opening of the five-day event, which is organised by the Graz University of Technology.
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