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They’re 2 feet tall, born of AI and vying for world soccer domination

It’s like the World Cup. The stadium is on edge, and a player kicks the ball, scoring the winning goal.

The crowd erupts.

But at UW-Madison in Morgridge Hall, the soccer stars are autonomous humanoid robots.

Josiah Hanna, a UW-Madison assistant professor of computer sciences, leads the university’s student RoboCup team, which uses artificial intelligence to teach soccer-playing robots humanlike behaviors, all while producing research to advance the field.