Can a team of soccer-playing robots beat the human World Cup champions by 2050?

That's the ultimate goal of RoboCup, an international tournament where teams of soccer robots compete in various categories, from small wheeled boxes to adult-size humanoids.

IEEE Spectrum's Harry Goldstein traveled to Singapore to attend RoboCup 2010 -- and check out how the man vs. machine future of soccer is playing out.

Special thanks to Aamir Ahmad and Prof. Pedro U. Lima from the Institute for Systems and Robotics, Instituto Superior Técnico, in Lisboa, Portugal; Prof. Mike Wong Hong Kee from Singapore Polytechnic; and the Advanced Robotics & Intelligent Control Centre at Singapore Polytechnic for additional footage.