This competition isn't held on any school field. The soccer field in use is actually a ping-pong tabletop, the soccer ball is a golf ball and the players are robots smaller than a toaster. We're trying to advance the field of multi-robot systems. As the competition escalates, it's necessary for our team to continue to develop higher level strategic algorithms. Carnegie Mellon's small robots , competing in a field of 18 teams, were eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Research is an important part of the preparation for the competition.
The robots must anticipate the moves of their opponents. They have to reverse roles from active to passive and predict where they need to position themselves. Patrick Riley, a first year graduate student, was part of the winner simulator team in both the 1998 and 1999 competitions. He stressed the need for team work. I don't think that the importance of collaboration can be over-emphasized.