Team of U.S. robots bests Australian machines for RoboCup soccer supremacy

BEIJING, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- A team of robots designed by Texas researchers defeated a squad of Australian bots in soccer for the RoboCup Challenge championship in China.

The "Austin Villa" U.S. team, designed and operated by robotics experts from the University of Texas at Austin, took on the "Runswift" team created by researchers from the Australia's University of New South Wales in the final match of the RoboCup Challenge, part of the 2016 World Robot Conference in Beijing.

The robots, which stand at just under 2 feet tall, used a wireless system to communicate with one another during the game, as opposed to being controlled by their creators.

The U.S. team came out victorious 7-3 in a game marred by technical difficulties on the Australian side.

"We're upset that we lost, but we've had heaps of fun. And we lost to a really good team, the American team is really good," Australian team member Kenji Brameld told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "They deserve to be the winners."