In a few decades, England may face a new breed of football contenders. The goal of the RoboCup project is to develop a team of humanoid robots that can win against the World Cup winning team by 2050. For now, the 10th annual RoboCup football championships, currently taking place in Bremen, Germany, will settle for matches between four legged bots and humanoids.

Robots also take centre stage off the field. This year’s competition will showcase two robotic commentators, Sango and Ami. Sango is well-versed in the rules of the game and readily explains them to the audience, while Ami loves to interrupt with cheers when players score a goal.

More than 400 teams from 36 countries are joining the event. The games allow the top minds in robotics to meet to put their newest technologies to the test. The focus isn’t all fun and games, though. The iniative of RoboCup is to develop advanced robotic technology that can be used in search and rescue missions in large scale disasters.

But during the games, all eyes are on Germany to see if the team can defend its championship title.