Thousands of participants from over 40 countries are competing this year in RoboCup 2016 with their humanoid soccer playing robots in Leipzig, Germany. “When established in 1997, the original mission was to field a team of robots capable of winning against the human soccer World Cup champions by 2050,” according to RoboCup. Now participants compete in five different soccer categories as well as RoboCup Rescue, which researches robotic effectiveness and usefulness to first responders.

Humanoid robots compete in a group match of the 20th RoboCup in Leipzig, Germany, June 30, 2016.
Sebastian Willnow/EPA